After a three-game road swing, which included a pair of wins against Duquesne and Robert Morris University, the Thundering Herd Men’s Soccer team returned to Hoops Family Field where it defeated Eastern Illinois in convincing fashion, 3-0.

In what was a thunderous start by Marshall, Herd midfielder Dion Stergiotis quickly gained possession, sent in a calculated cross through the box and found forward Lewis Knight, who struck the ball into the upper corner for the goal in the first minute of the contest.
Knight’s goal was his sixth of the season, which would keep him on pace with some of the NCAA’s top scorers in the nation.

Fourteen minutes in Marshall yet again broke through the Panthers’ backline of defense, and this time it was Brayan Lopez-Mendez finding Pedro Dolabella who sent a scorcher that deflected off the top post and went straight down into the goal. Marshall would head into the half with a comfortable 2-0 lead.

At the half, the Herd had an astonishing 10 shots compared to Eastern Illinois, who could only muster one shot on goal. Marshall’s defensive pressure the entire half frustrated the Panthers and attributed to such an uneven showing in both shots and time of possession.

For Marshall, head coach Chris Grassie told players before the game the importance of being the team that issues the pressure rather than receiving it.

“We describe it to them like they’re at the beach and playing in the ocean,” Grassie said. “Every time a wave comes you jump over it and you’re having a great time. But once that next wave knocks you over you’re underneath the waves and that’s what we’re talking about today. Making sure we aren’t sustaining pressure and constantly under pressure like we were against Charlotte.”

After the break, Marshall picked up where it had left off and continued to exert their dominance over the Panthers. Although Eastern Illinois came out with a sense of urgency, the Herd bunkered down defensively and once again controlled the possession battle.

Adi Dakwar surged passed the Panthers backline over an hour into the match for a breakaway goal to make the score 3-0 and securing Marshall’s victory.

With an end game total of 27 recorded shots (14 shots on goal) for Marshall, the scoreboard didn’t do the Panthers’ goalkeeper, Mike Novotny, any justice. He recorded 11 saves and was undoubtedly their man of the match.

Marshall was able to use its 3-0 win to its advantage in more than just the win column as it was able to play several players off the bench in the victory.

“It was good to get everybody in and rest some of the starters,” Grassie said. “We do have two three games a week, so whenever you can get guys in and they (all) have been training hard. They deserve to play, so it was good to get them in.”

The Thundering Herd will continue its home stint at Hoops Family Field at 1 p.m. Saturday in a Conference USA match against the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

Nicholas Arguelles can be contacted at [email protected].