Marshall University Athletics
@HerdMSoccer Announces Spring Schedule
1/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University men's soccer team announced its spring exhibition schedule today. The schedule includes four home games at Hoops Family Field at Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex and a game against in-state rival West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va.
The schedule starts with a trip to Pittsburgh to take on the USL Pro side Pittsburgh Riverhounds on March 1. Former Marshall standouts Sterling Flunder and Anthony Virgara are members of the Riverhounds.
The Thundering Herd will then play four consecutive games at home. The home schedule starts on March 12 against the Canadian Stars at 7 p.m. On March 24, the Herd will welcome Northern Kentucky for a 4:30 p.m. match. The two teams played in the regular season, with Marshall winning 2-1 on the road.
On April 3, Marshall will face Rio Grande at 7 p.m. and will play in a round robin on April 11.
The schedule concludes with the trip to West Virginia on Friday, April 17 at 7 p.m.
Herd coach Bob Gray said the spring schedule should provide some early road tests and be tough all around.
"The 2015 spring schedule is one of the most ambitious schedules we have had in the 20 years that I have coached at Marshall," Gray said. "Opening up with a very good match against the USL professional team the Pittsburgh Riverhounds is a big bonus for us. Our second match will be an international friendly against a very good team from Toronto. This team is made up of some of the best players in the Toronto area and they will be playing several college teams on their tour. We are lucky to be one of those teams."
Gray also said that the matchups at home would provide strong opposition for the team as well.
"Additionally, we will play some of the best small-college teams in the country," Gray said. "Rio Grande University was ranked No. 1 in the country in NAIA for most of the year. The University of Charleston made it all the way to the championship game in NCAA Division II. We will also play two very good Division I schools, Northern Kentucky University, which we defeated this past fall 2-1, and Radford University, which was the regular-season champion for the Big South. To top off the spring we will play our final match against in state rival WVU on their home field April 17. Last year's spring match drew almost 1,000 fans at home.
