The No. 10 nationally ranked Marshall Men’s Soccer came through with a win 2-1 against the University of South Carolina Gamecocks to open Sun Belt Conference play, making their season record 5-1-1 and 1-0-0 in conference play. The game took place on Friday, Sept. 20, at Eugene E. Stone III Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. 

“We talked before the match; that the time for judging our match based on performance was over. Today, we have to judge ourselves on getting the three points,” head coach Chris Grassie said after the game. 

Marshall handed South Carolina its first loss of the season. The win snaps South Carolina’s six-match no loss streak. 

While the Gamecocks outshot the Thundering Herd 14-12, Marshall was able to fight back for the win.

“South Carolina was a really tough opponent, but I thought our guys battled well, and quite often, we were able to execute on our game plan,” Grassie said. “There are still some things to work on, obviously, but I thought we improved a lot of aspects of our play tonight, and we fought hard for the points. That’s all we can ask for.”

The game started hot with both offensives having plays with shots on goal.

Marshall’s Loïc Sany Kong fired a shot on goal, but the Gamecocks’ goalkeeper was able to save it. The Marshall offense kept attacking the South Carolina defense with quick drives that were stopped. 

The game cooled off a little with both teams’ defenses shown on display. That changed in the 19th minute when South Carolina took the lead when Ethan Ballek was able to score. 

The Gamecocks did not keep the lead for long when Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos was able to score and equalize the game off of a deflection just three minutes later. 

Both teams kept fighting in the first half, but there were no more goals, ending in a tied half.

In the opening minutes of the second half, goalkeeper Aleksa Janjic came through with a big save in the 51st minute to keep the score locked 1-1. 

In the 58th minute, South Carolina’s defense headed the ball to attempt to clear but Marshall’s Pablo Simon was able to score, making the score 2-1 to give Marshall the lead for the first time during the match.

The Herd was able to seal the win off of Janjic’s big saves and Marshall’s defensive clears throughout the last 10 minutes of the game.

Both shots on goal and corner kicks were tied for both teams at 5 shots on goal and 7 corner kicks.

Marshall led South Carolina in saves 4-3 but had more fouls than South Carolina 11-8.

The Thundering Herd returns to Hoops Family Field and will face the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams for its final non-conference matchup on Wednesday, Sept. 25. The game will start at 7:15 p.m.

Nate Harrah can be contacted at [email protected]