Marshall Men’s Soccer Recap
By Shane Darling, FM88 Sports
Aug. 24, 2025
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) — Coming off a year of falling short multiple times, the #2 nationally-ranked Thundering Herd Men’s Soccer Team hosted George Mason in the first game of Marshall’s 2025 campaign.
Last season, Marshall drew its last Sun Belt Conference regular season game to West Virginia University, coming up just shy of a regular season title and finishing as the SBC runner-up.
In the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Marshall won its first two games, earning the Herd a chance to get revenge on its in-state rivals in the SBC Tournament Final. However, after another draw in regulation and both teams staying even through sudden death overtime, WVU would get the best of Marshall again, this time in penalty kicks.
The Thundering Herd then went into the NCAA Tournament ranked 13th and managed to ride a four-game winning streak into the College Cup Final against the University of Vermont, coming up short for a third time in 2024, losing the game 2-1 as the Catamounts scored a sudden death winner in overtime.
So, the reigning national runners-up came back to Hoops Family Field picked to be the Preseason Sun Belt Conference Champions with 15 newcomers, five of which being freshmen.
George Mason is coming off an impressive 2024 season itself, as coach Rich Constanzo revitalized the Patriots from being 2-13-1 when he took over in 2021, to Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions last year after a 13-4-1 (6-1-1 A-10) season.
The game started with Marshall out on its front foot, but no truly crucial moments for the Patriots after the Herd had three shots and three corner kicks in the first 24 minutes. The Herd would open the scoring at the 30-minute mark as transfer junior midfielder Yasha Schaerer from SIUE put in a beautiful, in-swinging corner kick that transfer junior forward Larry Noel from Salt Lake Community College was able to head in after rising up over everyone.
Marshall would pad its lead nearing halftime, as a mistake by the George Mason defense resulted in junior forward Joao Roberto getting the ball in the middle of the pitch only 25 yards out. Roberto dished the ball to sophomore David de la Vibora, who would find the back of the net as all he had was the Patriot goalie to beat.
GMU almost equalized with just two minutes left in the first half, but Marshall’s goalkeeper Dan Rose made a beautiful diving save to pop the ball up just enough for senior Ryan Holmes to clear it off the goal line.
The second half started miserably for the Herd, as George Mason took the ball up the touch line and sent in a cross to nobody. Unfortunately, junior defender Braian Amaro was unaware that there were no Patriot forwards behind him, and the ball ricocheted off his foot and into the net for an own goal, halving Marshall’s lead to just 2-1.
From that point on, Marshall stayed the aggressor and put all sorts of pressure on the George Mason defense, but failed to cushion its lead. The Herd was in control so much that the Patriots were never able to be truly dangerous, and the final score gave Marshall a season-opening 2-1 victory.
This is a milestone victory for Marshall’s head coach Chris Grassie, as he earned his 200th career win. After the game, Grassie complemented his team’s talent from top-to-bottom, “We have such a good team with depth in every position… It doesn’t matter you’re not starting, everyone has a great role on this team.”
Marshall has a week break before it hosts visiting Virginia Tech University at Hoops Family Field on Friday, first touch is set for 7:15 p.m.