 "Photo: Sholten Singer | The Parthenon")
The Marshall University men’s soccer team will put its season on the line when it travels to Tulsa, Okla., to compete in the Conference USA Tournament.
The Herd finished the regular season 10-6-1 and was 6-2 against C-USA opponents.
“It has been a strange year,” said Bob Gray, Marshall head coach. “We started off real slow and lost some games we never should have lost, and then we got hot when we needed to in conference play.”
In a rematch of the Herd’s season finale, Marshall will face UAB on Friday. In the pair’s last meeting, Marshall held off a Blazer comeback to win the game 3-2 and secure second place for the regular season.
“It’s not easy playing the same team two weeks in a row,” Gray said. “You better believe they are going to be fired up to play us and we’re going to have to be ready to play.”
The other first-round conference game will take place after Marshall’s match and will pit Tulsa against the University of Kentucky. In an early season matchup, the Herd defeated UK in overtime when senior midfielder Dustin Dawes earned his second goal of the season.
“Kentucky is such a rival anyhow that to get that win was good,” Gray said.
When Tulsa visited Sam Hood Field this season, Marshall was able to keep the game tied until the closing minutes when a late Tulsa goal sealed the Herd’s first home loss of the regular season.
Tulsa was ranked 16th in the country when it faced the Herd.
“We know what we did wrong last game, and we can work on it this week in practice,” Dawes said. “Hopefully we’ll get Tulsa on Sunday and beat them.”
Marshall will rely on freshman goalkeeper Daniel Withrow to continue his strong defense to be successful. Withrow tallied 59 saves in 14 games and earned two shutouts throughout the season.
Against penalty kicks this season, Withrow did not allow a goal in four attempts. In the Herd’s conference game against the University of South Carolina, Withrow netted the game-winning goal when he blasted a free kick that gave Marshall a 2-1 win.
Gray said the team will need to rely on Withrow to continue his dominant goalkeeping from the season, but he said he is confident in the team’s ability to get through the first round.
“I think we’ve got big chances of taking the whole thing,” said Tom Jackson, freshman forward. “We’re playing very well, and we have a lot of spirit and a lot of fight, which every team needs.”
Adam Russell can be contacted at russell58@marshall.edu.
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