The Thundering Herd Men’s Soccer kicked off its 2017 campaign on Friday at Hoops Family Field. Marshall won their home opener against UNC Asheville by a score line of 3-0.

Head coach Chris Grassie earned his 100th career victory, which made him first at the helm for the men’s soccer team to do so.

“The guys did very well. They possessed the ball smoothly,” Grassie said. “I would say we still have some room for improvement in that area and then we put the pressure on quite well. When we played the game, we created a lot of chances.”

The first half of the game was dominated by Marshall. Newcomers Lewis Knight and Dion Stergiotis managed three and two shots, respectively. Both with one shot on goal.

In the 20th minute, Marshall broke through the Bulldogs’ back line when Jamie Izquierdo-Roiz lobbed one down field to Knight who went on to finish the first goal of his Marshall career. Marshall ended the first half with a total of 12 shots, four on target.

The Thundering Herd back line consisting of Carlos Diaz-Salcedo (Barcelona, Spain), Jascha Glueckshalt, John Pappas and newcomer Illal Osmanu held UNC Asheville to just one shot.

After the break, Marshall continued its dominance, quickly doubling its lead over UNC Asheville. In the 56th minute of the match, Pappas charged down the right side of the field and found a wide-open Knight inside the goalie box who finished his second goal of the game.

With 10 minutes remaining in the contest, Marshall was awarded a penalty after a handball by the Bulldogs occurred inside the box. Izqiuerdo-Roiz took the penalty shot and awarded Marshall a commanding three goal lead. Marshall’s season opener ended with a 3-0 victory for the Herd.

Knight’s debut for Marshall resulted in a total of five shots, three on target and two goals.

“I think the team played well, to be fair to them, they played some fantastic balls in behind and that helped me direct some shots to goal and luckily I got two tonight,“ Lewis said. “We are just looking forward to the next game.”

The Thundering Herd held UNC Asheville to just one shot on target. The center back pairing of Gluechschalt and Osmanu earned praise from their head coach.

“You know those two guys have not played a lot of minutes in the preseason because Illal (Osmanu) has been struggling with a little bit of an injury,” Coach Grassie said. “I think that partnership is very good. You know you have got speed and power in both of those guys and they are both very good on the ball.”

The Thundering Herd will continue its season at Hoops Family Field this Sunday at 4 p.m. Marshall will play host to the University of Evansville.

Marshall and Evansville have competed against each other four times, and are tied 2-2 in the all-time series. The two teams have met one another in each of the past three seasons with the Purple Aces winning 2-1 in Evansville in the Herd’s 2016 campaign.

Kyle Curley can be contacted at [email protected]