Men’s soccer defeats Concord 4-1

Bradley Heltzel, Reporter

The Herd wrapped up its regular season Saturday with a conclusive 4-1 win over Concord University on senior day to push its current win streak to three games.

Senior Danny Sellitti was recognized before the match and presented with a framed pink goalkeeper jersey. Bob Gray was also honored with a framed jersey as he celebrated his 20th season as the Herd’s head coach.

In the match, the Herd (7-8-3, 3-4-1) got four goals from four different players with midfielders Ryan Forde, Ian Lovern, freshman Christian Kershaw and West Virginia native Trevor Starcher all notching scoring strikes. Both Lovern and Kershaw collected their first career goals for the Herd. Kershaw also had two assists in the match.

The match was the second consecutive game in which the Herd scored four goals after defeating Asbury 4-0 in its previous match. Gray said it was nice for the Herd to get some scoring chances and gain some confidence offensively with their production in the past two matches.

With its regular season concluded the Herd will now look toward the postseason and the Conference USA Tournament this week that is hosted by Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Herd is seeded sixth out of the seven teams that qualified for the tournament. It will face the third seed, University of Alabama at Birmingham, in the tournament quarterfinals at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Herd were thrashed by UAB in its lone matchup of the regular season as the Blazers won by a score of 7-2 in Birmingham, Alabama. The seven goals were the most allowed in a match by the Herd all season as five different players scored for UAB.

However, Gray said he doesn’t mind the UAB matchup, despite the definitive loss early in the season.

“I’d rather play a team we lost to than a team we’ve already beaten because it’s tough to beat a team twice,” Gray said.

In terms of health, Gray said the team will welcome back Ontario native Daniel Jodah for the tournament after he missed the previous two matches with a hamstring injury. Jodah, a sophomore midfielder, led the Herd with five goals this season. Gray also said junior midfielder Trevor Starcher should be fine after injuring his ankle in Friday’s match with Concord, but Gray is not as optimistic that the team will have the services of junior Frenchman Arthur Duschesne, whose status will be monitored throughout the week.

If the Herd defeats UAB and advances to the semifinals, it will play the winner of the match between seventh seeded South Carolina versus second seeded Kentucky at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Bradley Heltzel can be contacted at heltzel@marshall. edu.