The No. 1 Marshall University Men’s Soccer team defeated the West Virginia University Mountaineers to secure the Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Tournament Championship 3-2 on Sunday, Nov. 12, in front of a Mountain State Derby record crowd of 3,151 fans at Hoops Family Field.
The Herd earned its second tournament title in program history and its first in the Sun Belt, along with a program best 17-win season, topping the 2019 C-USA championship team’s 16 wins.
“I think we saw two fantastic teams, who’ve battled each other all year,” head coach Chris Grassie said after the win. “I thought they (WVU) had a trophy performance, but, at the end of the day, I have to be super proud of our players. I thought they put tremendous effort in. It was a different type of game and intensity than we played all season.”
The contest proved to be a nailbiter for fans. With the score tied 2-2 in the late stages of the match, Marshall began chipping away at the WVU defense. The Herd was denied several times by Mountaineers goalkeeper Jackson Lee who made multiple acrobatic stops.
In the 77th minute, Lee’s efforts would not be enough. Taimu Okiyoshi strung a pass to Rai Pinto who flicked the ball over the WVU defense and found a streaking Alvaro Garcia-Pascual. Garcia-Pascual chipped the ball over Lee from outside the 18-yard box to give the Herd the 3-2 lead and the game-winning goal.
“I’m happy with the goal and the victory, but, as coach said, there’s a lot to work on; we need to keep improving,” Garcia-Pascual said. “It’s another win, but we’re focused on the next step: the big tournament. We want to be 100 percent there, here at home with the fans.”
After the go-ahead goal, goalkeeper Gabriel Perrotta made two crucial saves in the 82nd and 85th minutes to preserve the lead and secure the championship victory.
The Mountaineers opened up the high scoring first half with a goal launched into the top right corner of the net from Sergio Ors Navarro in the 18th minute.
In the 25th minute, Matthew Bell passed the ball to Garcia-Pascual, who snuck the ball past Lee and equalized the score at 1-1.
Navarro found the back of the net again in the contest in the 31st minute, slipping the ball past Perrotta. The Mountaineers’ lead would not last long, though. While trailing 2-1 in the 34th minute, Aymane Sordo checked in for Bell and made an immediate impact.
Sordo fired a shot off his left foot past Lee into the net, evening the score at 2-2 in the 36th minute.
The goal secured him a spot on the all-tournament team alongside his teammates Alex Bamford, Pinto and Garcia-Pascual.
Garcia-Pascual won an award of his own, being crowned the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament.
After securing the Sun Belt Championship, the Herd looks on to the NCAA National Tournament. Being named the No. 1 seed in the nation, the Herd will have home field advantage in the first contest, which will be held on Nov. 19. Marshall will face the winner of San Diego vs California Baptist.
