Marshall University’s women’s soccer season kicks off Aug. 10 at Virginia Tech, and Head Coach Kevin Long said he expects a healthy and competitive season from the Herd. 

“For the first time in several years, we start the season healthy,” Long said. “With that, we expect to be competitive throughout the season and we are setting our sights on the conference championship.”

Last year, the team went 5-9-3, but this season the team is looking for an improvement. 

“We have enough talent,” Long said. “The team has really come together over the last year, so we are looking for a break-through year. Much of our spring and summer has been spent relearning a winning culture and on the steps behind the scenes that help build success.” 

From Hurricane, West Virginia to Norway, the Herd’s incoming class is diverse and from different areas of the world.  The Herd is set to have 11 newcomers. Of these players, several have competed for National Championships or gone against tough competition while playing with their club teams. 

Long also announced that senior defender Metztli Gonzalez and senior midfielder/forward Gabby Powers would be the 2019 captains. 

“I haven’t been a part of a process where two players had such overwhelming support to be named captains from everyone in the program,” Long said. 

Gonazalez started every match last season and in 16 of the 17 she played every minute. Powers also started all 17 games last season. 

The Herd will start its season with four straight road games facing Virginia Tech, Morehead State, Michigan and Michigan State.  They will then return home on Aug. 30 to face Youngstown in the opening home game.  

The team will face Ohio at home on Sept. 1. Road games versus Lipscomb and Vanderbilt will be played in Nashville, Tennessee Sept. 6 and 8.  High Point will head to Huntington on Sept. 15 for the Herd’s last non-conference match of the season. 

The opening games of conference play with take place in Florida versus Florida Atlantic and Florida Gulf Coast. They will return home to face UTEP on Sept. 26 before heading back to Florida to play Florida International on the Sept. 29. 

Games against Old Dominion, Charlotte and UTSA will be played at home and games against Rice, North Texas and Louisiana Tech will be played away. 

The Herd will close its regular season against Western Kentucky on Nov. 1. 

“I look for some breakthrough performances,” Long said. “We have a challenging schedule against some very talented teams so that when we begin conference play, we hope to be ready to fight our way to that championship.”

Sydney Shelton can be contacted at [email protected].