The No. 4 Marshall Men’s Soccer Team finished in a 2-0 shutout against Old Dominion in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Hoops Family Field on Sunday, Nov. 5. 

Forward Matthew Bell claimed his 11th assist of the season with a pass to Pablo Simon, granting the Herd its first goal of the game. Bell’s assist broke the single season record for assists in program history.

“It doesn’t mean anything; records are meant to be broken,” Bell said.

“I’m here to win, and if we win everything and I can get a record, then I am happy with that,” he added. “But if I get a record and we don’t win everything, it’s a bad season for me.”

Bell was awarded Sun Belt Conference Men’s Offensive Player of the Year voted by the league’s 10 head coaches.

In the 85th minute of the match, junior Agustin Iusem captured his first goal of the season, finishing the scoring for the match. Marco Silva’s pass to Iusem marked his third assist of the season. 

“I thought every time we attacked, they ended our attack with a foul; it was kind of a tactic to make it more of a battle and a war,” head coach Chris Grassie said. “I thought our guys rose to the challenge, particularly in the second half.” 

“I thought we were ready for the fight. First half we played okay football, but we figured it out in the second half,” Grassie added. “Matthew played tremendously well trying to find the pocket, and the rest of the guys put in a good effort to fight and win the second balls.”

Goalie Gabriel Perrotta was able to make crucial saves to keep Old Dominion’s score at 0. With a season high of five saves, Perrotta closes out the season with nine and a half shutouts. 

The Herd will be playing on Wednesday, Nov. 8, against the Kentucky University Wildcats. The game will determine one of the finalists for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The match will take place at 7 p.m. at Hoops Family Field.