Marshall men’s soccer defeated Elon in the first round of the NCAA tournament 1-0 Thursday evening.

The Herd got on the board just before half in the 44^th minute after Marshall was awarded a corner. Senior Gabriel Alves sent in the ball and found sophomore Mohammad Seidu, who headed the ball into the net, which would be his first goal of the season.

Herd men’s soccer coach said it was a tough game for his squad.

“Good win tonight,” he said. “We had to balance very good possession football with the fight that we needed to defend their direct attacks. It was a very tough game against a really well-coached team. Credit to Elon; they made it tough. But this was a great moment for our guys to match the fight and then be calm to play on the ball. To a man, we showed we were up to the test.”

Marshall and Elon tied shots on goal three to three.

This was graduate student goalkeeper Oliver Semmle’s sixth shutout of the season.

Next, Marshall will travel to Charlottesville, Virginia, to take on the fourth-seeded Virginia Cavaliers at 1 p.m. in the second round of the NCAA tournament.