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2023 Marshall Thundering Herd men's soccer team

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2023 Marshall Thundering Herd men's soccer
Sun Belt regular season champions
Sun Belt Tournament champions
ConferenceSun Belt Conference
U. Soc. Coaches pollNo. 1
TopDrawerSoccer.comNo. 1
Record18–2–0 (7–2–0 Sun Belt)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
  • Josh Faga (5th season)
  • Rafa Simoes (3rd season)
Home stadiumHoops Family Field
Seasons
← 2022
2024 →

The 2023 Marshall Thundering Herd men's soccer team represented Marshall University during the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 45th season of the university fielding a men's varsity soccer program. The Thundering Herd, led by seventh-year head coach Chris Grassie, played their home games at Hoops Family Field as members of the Sun Belt Conference.[1][2]

2023 Sun Belt Conference men's soccer standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 8 Marshall 7 2 0 18 3 0
No. 19 UCF + 6 2 1 10 4 2
No. 3 West Virginia + 5 1 3 17 3 4
No. 18 James Madison + 4 2 3 10 5 5
Kentucky + 3 3 3 8 8 4
Georgia State 3 4 2 6 7 5
South Carolina 3 4 2 6 9 3
Old Dominion 2 6 1 5 7 5
Georgia Southern 1 5 3 2 9 6
Coastal Carolina 1 6 2 3 9 3
As of December 12, 2023
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches
Source: Sun Belt

The Thundering Herd finished the regular season with a 14–2–0 record winning the Sun Belt Conference men's soccer regular season championship. This marked the first team championship Marshall has won in the Sun Belt Conference. The 14–2–0 record also marks the best regular season Marshall men's soccer has ever had.

Marshall continued their dominance into the Sun Belt Conference tournament where they got revenge on the two teams that defeated them in the regular season; Kentucky, and West Virginia. They ultimately won the Sun Belt tournament with a score of 3–2 against fierce rival West Virginia to clinch a spot in the NCAA tournament. This also marked the first tournament championship

Marshall made school history on November 13, 2023 as they laid claim to the No.1 overall seed in the NCAA men's soccer tournament during the selection show. Despite being the top seed overall, they lost in the third round to Stanford.

Background

[edit]

The season prior, Marshall finished 11-4-4 after losing in the third round of the 2022 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.[3]

Marshall was ranked 11th in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll and 2nd in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll.[4][5][6]

Roster

[edit]

Updated August, 2023[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Republic of Ireland IRL Dan Rose
4 DF England ENG Alex Bamford
5 MF United States USA Ryan Holmes
6 MF Brazil BRA Guga Veiga
7 FW France FRA Adam Aoumaich
8 MF Japan JPN Taimu Okiyoshi
9 FW Spain ESP Alvaro Garcia-Pascual
10 FW Jamaica JAM Matthew Bell
11 MF Spain ESP Pablo Simon
12 DF Brazil BRA Joao Roberto
13 DF United States USA Ethan Prescott
15 DF Japan JPN Takahiro Fujita
16 DF Brazil BRA Felipe Santos
17 MF Brazil BRA Filipe Short
18 FW Argentina ARG Agustin Iusem
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 MF United States USA Nikola Sljivic
20 MF Denmark DEN Alex Stjernegaard
21 MF France FRA Theo Godard
24 DF Ghana GHA Mohammed Seidu
25 DF Germany GER Morris Duggan
27 MF Morocco MAR Aymane Sordo
29 GK United States USA Gabe Sitler
31 DF Portugal POR Rai Pinto
32 MF Japan JPN Masaya Sekiguchi
38 GK Denmark DEN Paul Weincierz
43 DF Brazil BRA Braian Amaro
44 FW Ghana GHA Alexander Adjetey
47 MF United States USA Marco Silva
49 FW France FRA Illias Aoumaich
99 GK Paraguay PAR Gabriel Perrotta

Schedule

[edit]

Source:[8][9]

Date
Time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (Attendance)
City, State
Regular season
August 24*
7:15 pm, ESPN+
No. 11 Oakland W 4–0  1–0–0
Hoops Family Field (1,492)
Huntington, WV
August 28*
7:15 pm, ESPN+
No. 11 Wright State W 5–0  2–0–0
Hoops Family Field (1,135)
Huntington, WV
September 1*
7:15 pm, ESPN+
No. 5 Xavier W 3–0  3–0–0
Hoops Family Field (1,713)
Huntington, WV
September 5*
6:00 pm, ACCN
No. 2 at Pittsburgh W 3–1  4–0–0
Petersen Sports Complex (1,081)
Pittsburgh, PA
September 8*
7:15 am, ESPN+
No. 2 High Point W 2–1  5–0–0
Hoops Family Field (2,135)
Huntington, WV
September 12*
7:15 pm, ESPN+
No. 2 Cleveland State W 5–0  6–0–0
Hoops Family Field (1,579)
Huntington, WV
September 16
7:00 pm, ESPN+
No. 2 at No. 9 James Madison W 3–1  7–0–0
(1–0–0)
Sentara Park (1,119)
Harrisonburg, VA
September 23
7:15 pm, ESPN+
No. 1 No. 3 UCF W 1–0  8–0–0
(2–0–0)
Hoops Family Field (3,075)
Huntington, WV
September 27*
7:00 pm, ESPN+
No. 1 at VCU W 1–0  9–0–0
Sports Backers Stadium (995)
Richmond, VA
October 1
7:00 pm, ESPN+
No. 1 at Georgia Southern W 3–1  10–0–0
(3–0–0)
Eagle Field (391)
Statesboro, GA
October 7
7:15 pm, ESPN+
No. 1 Georgia State W 2–0  11–0–0
(4–0–0)
Hoops Family Field (2,042)
Huntington, WV
October 13
7:15 pm, ESPN+
No. 1 Coastal Carolina W 6–1  12–0–0
(5–0–0)
Hoops Family Field (1,861)
Huntington, WV
October 18
7:00 pm, ESPN+
No. 1 at No. 5 West Virginia
Mountain State Derby
L 2–5  12–1–0
(5–1–0)
Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium (3,147)
Morgantown, WV
October 22
4:30 pm, ESPM+
No. 1 Kentucky L 0–2  12–2–0
(5–2–0)
Hoops Family Field (3,099)
Huntington, WV
October 27
7:00 pm, ESPN+
No. 6 at Old Dominion W 2–0  13–2–0
(6–2–0)
Old Dominion Soccer Complex (548)
Norfolk, VA
October 31
7:15 pm, ESPN+
No. 4 South Carolina W 2–0  14–2–0
(7–2–0)
Hoops Family Field (1,714)
Huntington, WV
Sun Belt Tournament
November 5
3:00 pm, ESPN+
(1) No. 4 (8) Old Dominion
Quarterfinals
W 2–0  15–2–0
Hoops Family Field (1,790)
Huntington, WV
November 8
7:00 pm, ESPN+
(1) No. 1 (5) Kentucky
Semifinals
W 3–0  16–2–0
Hoops Family Field (2,176)
Huntington, WV
November 12
1:00 pm, ESPN+
(1) No. 1 (3) No. 5 West Virginia
Finals
W 3–2  17–2–0
Hoops Family Field (3,151)
Huntington, WV
NCAA Tournament
November 19*
1:00 pm, ESPN+
(1) No. 1 Cal Baptist
Second round
W 3–0  18–2–0
Hoops Family Field (2,959)
Huntington, WV
November 26*
1:00 pm, ESPN+
(1) No. 1 (16) No. 22 Stanford
Third round
L 3–0  18–3–0
Hoops Family Field (3,042)
Huntington, WV
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

[edit]
Recipient Award Date Ref.
Matthew Bell SBC Offensive Player of the Week Aug. 29 [10]
Marco Silva SBC Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 5 [11]
Matthew Bell SBC Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 19 [12]
Adam Aoumaich SBC Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 26 [13]
Pablo Simon SBC Offensive Player of the Week Oct. 17 [14]
Alexander Stjernegaard SBC Offensive Player of the Week Nov. 2 [15]
Gabriel Perrotta SBC Defensive Player of the Week
Matthew Bell SBC Player of the Year Nov. 3 [16]
Matthew Bell SBC Offensive Player of the Year
Morris Duggan SBC Defensive Player of the Year
Gabriel Perrotta SBC Goalkeeper Player of the Week
Matthew Bell SBC First-Team All-Conference
Morris Duggan SBC First-Team All-Conference
Gabriel Perrotta SBC First-Team All-Conference
Taimu Okiyoshi SBC Second-Team All-Conference

Rankings

[edit]
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
United Soccer[17]11522 (3)1 (7)1 (8)1 (7)1 (7)1 (8)641 (8)N/A
Top Drawer Soccer[18]9622111116631

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Chris Grassie - Men's Soccer Coach". Marshall University Athletics. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  2. ^ "NCAA Statistics". stats.ncaa.org. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  3. ^ MetroNews (November 28, 2022). "Marshall suffers 1-0 loss at Indiana in third round of NCAA Tournament". WV MetroNews. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  4. ^ "NCAA DI Mens Rankings – National | United Soccer Coaches". Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  5. ^ "NCAA Men's Soccer Preseason Top 25 Rankings announced". SoccerWire. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  6. ^ CREASY, LUKE (August 14, 2023). "Marshall men picked second, land two on All-SBC preseason team". The Herald-Dispatch. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  7. ^ "2023 Men's Soccer Roster". Marshall University Athletics. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  8. ^ "2023 Men's Soccer Schedule". Marshall University Athletics. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  9. ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  10. ^ "Marshall's Bell and James Madison's Nikolai Tabbed as Sun Belt Men's Soccer Players of the Week". Sun Belt Conference. August 29, 2023.
  11. ^ "Marshall's Silva and UCF's Bubb Garner Sun Belt Men's Soccer Player of the Week Honors Honors". sunbeltsports.org. Sun Belt Conference. September 5, 2023.
  12. ^ "Marshall's Bell and South Carolina's Alexander Secure Sun Belt Men's Soccer Weekly Honors". Sun Belt Conference. September 19, 2023.
  13. ^ "Marshall's Aoumaich & Georgia Southern's Martinez Earn Sun Belt Men's Soccer Player of the Week Distinction". sunbeltsports.org. Sun Belt Conference. September 26, 2023.
  14. ^ "Marshall's Pablo Simon and James Madison's Enrique Garcia Barelles Garner Sun Belt Men's Soccer Weekly Honors". sunbeltsports.org. Sun Belt Conference. October 17, 2023.
  15. ^ "Marshall Sweeps Final Sun Belt Men's Soccer Weekly Honors". sunbeltsports.org. Sun Belt Conference. November 2, 2023.
  16. ^ "2023 Sun Belt Men's Soccer Awards and All-Conference Teams Announced". Sun Belt Conference. November 3, 2023.
  17. ^ "NCAA DI Men's National Rankings". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. September 27, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  18. ^ "College Soccer National Ranking". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.