Marshall University Athletics
Women's Soccer Opens 2009 Regular Season Sunday at Home
8/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 21, 2009
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.- Marshall University's women's soccer team will open its 2009 regular season Sunday against Cleveland State University. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at Sam Hood Field.
"We look forward to starting off our season in front of a large home crowd at Sam Hood Field, for the first of 10 home games this season," Head Coach Kevin Long said. "We hope that the fan base can give us a distinct home field advantage."
The Herd finished last season with a 5-10-4 overall record, and a 3-8 record in Conference USA. The 2009 roster returns nine starters, including three seniors, four juniors and two sophomores. The Thundering Herd welcome eight freshmen to their roster.
Marshall earned a 2-1 overtime victory over Morehead State last Friday, August 14, in their only 2009 exhibition. Sophomore Megan Tabler (Ashland, Ky.) and junior Erika Duncan (Easthaven, Scotland) each tallied goals for the Thundering Herd.
With Morehead leading 1-0 Duncan scored off a long through ball from junior defender Kristen Berquist (Highland Village, Texas), to even the match.
That's the way it stayed, until the 91st minute when Tabler was able to capitalize off an Eagles' turnover, and netted the game winning goal.
"In preseason we found that we are really deep, and our great depth gives us a lot of options," Long said.
Sunday's contest is the second ever meeting between the two schools. The Herd were victorious in their previous meeting in 2004.
"Both are new teams as far as matchup," Long added, "their program will challenge us to start the season on the right foot."
GameTracker will be available for Sunday's match at http://herdzone.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/mars-w-soccer-sched.html.
Sunday's match will be broadcasted live on WMUL 88.1 and can be heard online at www.marshall.edu/WMUL, then click stream one. Coverage starts at 12:45 p.m. www.HerdZone.com
