Box Score
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – After finishing the first 110 minutes tied 1-1, the No. 9 Marshall University men’s soccer team (11-3-4) advanced to the third round of the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Tournament after moving past the No.11 ranked and fourth-seed Virginia Cavaliers on penalty kicks 5-3 on Sunday in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“I thought we played really well. We had an early setback with our goal being harshly ruled out, but the lads picked themselves up well, and we really dominated the game the longer it went on,” Herd men’s soccer head coach Chris Grassie said after the match. “I thought we were unlucky not to win it in regulation. I though our back four and Taimu (Okiyoshi) were immense defensively, and then our guys were cool penalty takers. And again Oli (Semmle) steals the show, makes the first PK then saves the next one. We’ve got a great group.”
Graduate student goalkeeper Oliver Semmle came up with a pair of big saves on the first two shots on target in the 12th and 25th minutes.
However, Philip Horton put the Cavaliers on top 1-0 with the opening goal at the 27:26 mark. Two-and-a-half minutes later UVA nearly doubled its lead, but Semmle was there for the save.
Senior Gabriel Alves fired a shot from outside the 18-yard box, but Cavalier keeper Holden Brown was there to make the save in 35th minute as the two sides entered the break with the Herd trailing 1-0.
It took just over 20 minutes into the second half, but freshman Matthew Bell knotted the game at 1-1 in the 66th minute on the first shot on target of the half. The forward from Kingston, Jamaica, tallied his 10th goal of the season by putting away a rebound off the crossbar on a shot by graduate student Ibrahima Diop.
Junior Adam Aoumaich tried to give Marshall the lead, but both of his attempts were saved by Brown in the 68th and 72nd minutes. Semmle then managed to keep the contest tied with a save in 81st minute.
Marshall followed with a shot by Bell at the 82:34 mark and an attempt by freshman Ryan Holmes at the 85:05 mark seeing both attempts saved.
Semmle made his fifth save of the contest in the 87th minute as redshirt senior Milo Yosef had an attempt saved in the final minute of play as the two sides headed to overtime.
MU had a pair of shots blocked in the two overtime periods, but no goals were scored as the game went to penalty kicks.
Semmle buried the first penalty kick and followed by making a save on Virginia’s first attempt by Daneil Mangarov. UVA made its next three attempts, but Alves, Bell and senior Joao Souza answered the call as the Herd led 4-3 through four rounds.
Yosef stepped up to the spot with the chance to send Marshall to the third round. The German forward ran up to the ball and slide it into the bottom right corner to have MU advance on penalty kicks.
Notes
Bell became just the 11th player in program history to score 10 goals in a single season, joining Yosef and Pedro Dolabella as the only players to do it since 2012.
UP NEXT
The Herd heads to Bloomington, Indiana, for a meeting with the 13th-seeded Indiana Hoosiers on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. in a rematch of the 2020 College Cup Final.For all of the latest information on the Marshall men’s soccer team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdMSoccer, Facebook at Marshall University Soccer and on www.herdzone.com.
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—HerdZone.com—
