Marshall University Athletics
Women's Soccer Opens 2008 Regular Season on the Road
8/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 22, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University's women's soccer squad will open 2008 regular season play, Saturday, against non-conference foe St. Bonaventure University. The Thundering Herd will face the Bonnies at McGraw-Jennings Field with kick-off set for 3 p.m.
"We are very excited to start," Marshall's interim head coach Kevin Long said. "St. Bonaventure had a good preseason with a victory over Syracuse so Saturday's match-up should set the tone for many battles to come."
The Herd finished last season 4-13-1 and will return seven starters and only a select amount of seniors from last year's team. With the returning starters, the squad will also include five juniors and six sophomores as well as 10 newcomers to the roster (including eight freshmen and two transfers).
Saturday's contest will be the first meeting between the schools. The Herd will continue its two-match road trip with a contest against Mount St. Mary's University, Aug. 30, which also will be a first-time meeting in school history.
"The Bonnies are a very well organized and good team," coach Long continued. "But we have a new beginning for our program and hope to start on a positive note."
The Herd's captains for the season will be three-time co-captain senior Erin Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio) and two-time co-captain junior Liz Orton (Fort Collins, Colo.).
Marshall finished preseason with a 2-0 decision over the University of Charleston last Saturday, Aug. 16. The Herd dominated play against the Golden Eagles by creating offense and shutting the high-flying Charleston squad down.
Sophomore Missy Gordon (Carmel, Ind.) tallied Marshall's first goal at the 36th minute from a Katie Ball (Louisville, Ky.) pass. Freshman Kaitlin Devine (Leonardtown, Md.) put the game out of reach for the Golden Eagles as she scored the Herd's final goal late in the 89th minute.
"We hope to move forward from a great preseason and challenge both sides of the ball," coach Long added.
GameTracker will be available at http://herdzone.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/mars-w-soccer-sched.html.
Herd fans can check out and purchase photos from the 2007 women's soccer season at http://herdsportsphotos.exposuremanager.com/ under "2007 Women's Soccer."
