Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Charlotte
@HerdMSoccer Falls to No. 5 Charlotte in Regular Season Finale
11/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Box Score (PDF)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall men's soccer team ended its season Friday night with a 1-0 loss to No. 5 Charlotte at Hoops Family Field. Marshall ends the year 6-11-1 and 1-6-1 in Conference USA. Charlotte takes the conference regular season title with a 12-2-2 overall record and 7-1-0 in C-USA.
Nate Himes made five saves for the Herd in the loss. Trevor Starcher and Daniel Jodah tallied two shots apiece and John Pappas added one shot for the Herd. Starcher, Jodah and Pappas each had a shot on goal.
The first opportunity of the match came in the 19th minute when Jodah's shot was saved by Charlotte goalkeeper Elliot Panicco. Brandt Bronico scored his eighth goal of the season for Charlotte just ten minutes later, taking a rebound from just outside the box and placing his shot into the bottom right corner of the net. The 49ers had a chance to double their lead but Matej Dekovic had his shot sail wide of the net just before the half.
Charlotte took two shots in the first ten minutes of the second half but failed to convert on either chance. Daniel Bruce had his shot go wide and Sean Bowman's shot was saved by Himes. Starcher had an opportunity to tie the score in the 55th minute but his shot on a breakaway was saved by Panicco. Jodah had a shot get blocked in the 58th minute. The Herd's final shot of the match came in the 80th minute but Pappas had his shot stopped by Panicco. The 49ers held off a late Herd comeback attempt to win the match, 1-0.
COACHES CORNER
Quotes from head coach Bob Gray
Opening statement
"It is frustrating because this is kind of how our year has gone. They are a tough team that is the number five team in the nation. Their coach was thrilled to death that they won that game. They should have controlled the game, and I think they knew that we missed a few great chances tonight. That's a team that is going to be the number one seed in the C-USA tournament and they are going to get an NCAA berth no matter what they do. It has been a rough year, some of those games could have gone either way with some of those overtime games. My hats off to Charlotte, they have had a great year."
On the team spirit all game
"We battled and battled, the epitome of our team is the way our two hometown seniors played all year. You could not ask for more of an effort from Trevor (Starcher) or Tommy (Trupo) today. It is a little sad for me today because I have been coaching those guys since they were 12 years old. It is frustrating to know that they will never play for us again. That's the way it goes and we will build from here."
#STAMPEDE16
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