Marshall University Athletics
Women's Soccer Finishes 2008 Campaign
11/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 21, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University women's soccer team concluded its 2008 season with the most league victories since 2002. The Thundering Herd tied the regular season wins mark from the 2006 season during its 2008 campaign.
Despite having the most wins since joining C-USA in 2005, the Herd missed the conference tournament by one match.
"I am disappointed with our final results of the fall," Marshall's head coach Kevin Long said. "I believe we have a team that could have competed well in the tournament, and to not have been there makes for a longer off-season."
During regular season action, the Herd had first-time victories over St. Bonaventure University, Mount St. Mary's University and conference rival Tulsa. With Marshall's September victory over Houston, the Herd took the all-time series lead, 2-1, between the schools.
"The exciting part is we will get another crack at having success next fall, and the entire team is eager to get moving, working harder than they have in the past," Coach Long continued. "We don't want to let success slip by us again next year."
The Herd hosted conference opponents SMU and Tulsa in mid-October to mark its inaugural Breast Cancer Awareness matches, where the program recognized the devastating disease by holding a Kicks Against Breast Cancer auction. The auction included pink jerseys the players wore during the weekend matches.
"The entire event, from the beginning to end has been a positive experience for the team and I think the Marshall Community as a whole," Coach Long added. "We are very pleased to see total donations surpass the $10,000 mark. I speak for the entire team when I say how proud we are to walk away from the 2008 season, knowing we are playing good soccer, and making a positive impact at Marshall and in the Community. We look forward to working with St. Mary's more often in the years to come."
The weekend matches and on-line auction raised $10,000 including "in-kind" donations, and other donations such as the cost of the jerseys, donations and discounts given to the program by various services, such as the framing shop and the printing shop. All proceeds were donated to the Breast Center at St. Mary's Hospital in Huntington.
"We hope to make this an annual event, and are very happy with the outcome of our first effort," Peter Underwood, auction director said. "The girls are all very passionate about being involved in such an important cause."
Marshall was recognized on and off the field with C-USA and All-District honors following the season. Senior pre-medicine major Erin Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio) earned her first ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II Team honor as announced by CoSIDA late in October. The co-captain senior defender was also selected to the C-USA All-Academic First Team, as announced by the league in early November. The conference academic honor was Johnson's third consecutive accolade.
Freshman forward Angela DeSumma (Doylestown, Pa.) was selected to the 2008 C-USA All-Freshman Team, as announced by the league office early in November. The 2008 C-USA postseason honor was the first for the Herd since 2006. Junior forward Molly Snead (Cincinnati, Ohio) represented Marshall on the 2006 C-USA All-Freshman Team.
Desumma ended the season 15th in the nation for assists per game and as the league's assists per game leader (.58/game). Her 11 total assists ranked her first for the Herd and tied as the C-USA assists leader. The freshman scored her first collegiate goal against East Carolina in the final match of the 2008 campaign.
Sophomore forward Erika Duncan (Easthaven, Scotland) concluded the season with 52 shots, 20 being on goal. Her shots from 2008 placed her fourth on the program's all-time single season shots list. In two years, Duncan has tallied 77 shots, which puts her eighth on the Herd's all-time career shots list. Duncan's nine season goals has her tied for fourth with Kassie Hollman's 2006 finish on the all-time single season goals list.
In conference rankings, Duncan finished tied for sixth in shots, second in points, and tied for second in goals. She ended as the leader in points per game, fourth in shots per game, and third in goals per game.
"Of the positives from the season, we showed that we can most certainly compete with every team in the conference and several individuals had breakout seasons," Coach Long concluded. "We ended with Erika Duncan as a statistical leader in the conference and freshman Angela DeSumma finished the season among the top-20 in the nation in assists. Clearly a corner has been turned and we will eagerly crank-up our expectations for the 2009 season."
Junior co-captain keeper Liz Orton (Fort Collins, Colo.) finished the season with 74 saves and 1,688 minutes. Her season saves placed her eighth in conference saves. She has registered 264 saves in her three-year career, which puts her at the top of the program's all-time career saves list.
Marshall's opponents out-scored the Herd 38-29 in 2008.
The Herd's away record was 4-6-2, while the home record was 1-4-2 for the season. Marshall finished its 2008 season 5-10-4 overall, 3-8-0 in the league.
Herd fans can view and purchase photos from the 2008 women's soccer season at http://herdsportsphotos.exposuremanager.com/ under "2008 Women's Soccer."
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