Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Pittsburgh
Men's Soccer Drops Heartbreaker to Pittsburgh, 5-4
9/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 8, 2005
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Playing a man down for nearly the entire second half, the Marshall men's soccer team squandered an early lead and dropped a 5-4 decision to Pittsburgh Thursday at Sam Hood Field.
Jeremy Ashe (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) scored a goal and added two assists, while Stanton Smith (Cape Town, South Africa/University of Charleston) scored his first points at Marshall with a goal and two assists, but it was not enough as Pittsburgh (1-2) scored four second-half goals while the Thundering Herd played a man down.
"It's a disappointing loss, but give Pitt a lot of credit," Marshall head coach Bob Gray said. "They fought back and played hard. At the same time, it's hard to play a man down, especially for that long. Pitt scored some good goals, but we have to play better defense. When you're up 3-0 and 4-2, you need to find ways to win the game."
Marshall (1-2) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first half with a dominating performance. Kirk Gibson (Allen, Texas/Allen) got the Thundering Herd on the board in the 12th minute after Ashe took a cross from Smith and then quickly dished it off to Gibson, who deposited it for the 1-0 lead. The Herd scored a minute later on a goal from Ashe off a long cross from Smith. Ashe returned the favor in the 29th minute with a cross to Smith, who gave Marshall a 3-0 lead. Pittsburgh's Tyler Bastianelli scored a goal in traffic in the 39th minute to cut the lead to 3-1 at halftime.
In the 48th minute, Marshall's Karim Boukhemis (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington) was whistled for a red card, and the Herd played a man down the rest of the way. Pitt's Dwayne Grant-Higgins scored off a corner kick in the 60th minute to cut the lead to one, but the Herd's Dana Heimbecker (Niagara Falls, Ontario/Westlane Secondary) answered in the 68th minute with his first college goal, off an assist from Michael MacDonald (Luton, England/Cardinal Newman), to push the Marshall advantage back to two, 4-2.
But Pittsburgh roared back, scoring three unanswered goals in just over five minutes to take the lead. Bastianelli scored on a header -- his second goal of the match - and Grant-Higgins followed just over a minute later to tie the game. Keeyan Young capped the scoring with a rocket from 20 yards out to seal the win for Pittsburgh.
Marshall outshot the Panthers 15-13 for the match, including a 9-2 advantage in the first half.
Marshall returns to action at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, traveling to Cleveland State.
