Marshall University Athletics
Herd Men's Soccer Wins Home Opener, 3-2
9/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Herd Men's Soccer Wins Home Opener, 3-2
9/19/2004
- Box Score
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. - The Marshall University men's soccer team overcame a late charge by Cleveland State to earn a 3-2 win in the home opener Sunday at Sam Hood Field.
The Herd (3-3) came out firing, notching ten shots in the opening half. It did not take long for MU to get one in the net as John Daniele (Columbus, OH) got his first career goal with the Herd. Salvador Djeukeng (Yaounde, Cameroon) got the assist.
With just over a minute left in the first half, Marshall took a 2-0 lead when Michael Bourassa (Victoria, Canada) scored on a great pass from Djeukeng.
In the second half, the Herd came out firing again and scored its third goal of the game when freshman Jeff Lenix (Westerville, OH) found an open Salvador Djeukeng. Djeukeng put it past CSU goalie Amir Kettani to put the Herd ahead, 3-0. It was Djeukeng's second goal in as many games and his fourth point of the day.
Cleveland State (2-2) regrouped after Djeukeng's goal and less than two minutes later, Spencer Lappin scored to make it a 3-1 game. Lappin added another goal with 11 minutes remaining to cut Marshall's lead to one.
The Vikings kept the pressure on, getting a few chances in the final minutes, but in the end, the Herd was able to hold on and take the 3-2 win.
Herd coach Bob Gray was happy with the win, but explained that the team must pick up its play heading into the conference schedule. "I am happy we won today, our guys looked great in the first half, but we cannot back off the way we did in the second half and expect to win games," Gray said.
"I have to give credit to Cleveland State, they did not give up, they kept the pressure on, we were lucky to hold on to this one."
Marshall goalie Greg Terhune (Indianapolis, IN), in only his second start, played a strong game, making eight saves, including a point blank shot by CSU in the first half.
The Herd will travel to Lexington, KY to take on Mid-American Conference rival Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night. It will be the first conference game of the season for Marshall.
Coach Gray knows how important it is for the team to get off to a good start. "Kentucky is a great team and always one of the best in the MAC. We will have to play a much better game than we did today to win that one, but our guys have been playing well as of late and I like our chances."
After Friday's game at UK, Marshall will travel to Bowling Green to take on the Falcons at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Herdzone will have complete updates after both games.
