Dias and Dolabella Both Named Senior CLASS Award Finalists

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Second-ranked Marshall men's soccer senior Vitor Dias and graduate student Pedro Dolabella were named as Senior CLASS Award finalists on Thursday.

Twenty total student-athletes, 10 men's and 10 women's, were chosen as finalists. Marshall is the only school from either the men's or the women's side, with two student-athletes chosen. Dias and Dolabella are also the only players represented from Conference USA.

"I'm very proud of them," Herd head coach Chris Grassie said. "Two outstanding young men that I hope I will know for the rest of my life. Great soccer players and great people."

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character, and competition.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website through November 22. Fan votes will be combined with media, and Division I head coaches' votes to determine the winner.

The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2021 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup® championships in December.

The award was first created in 2001 and has expanded to include other sports, including soccer in 2007. Dias and Dolabella are the first men's soccer players for Marshall to make it to the final 10. The Herd has had three other student-athletes reach the final 10 in other sports. Jon Elmore was selected for men's basketball in 2018-19. Rachel Folden and Morgan Zerkle were chosen in 2008 and 2017, respectively, for softball.

Dias and Dolabella will leave Marshall having played major roles in the rise of the program. The two natives of Brazil helped the Herd to back-to-back Conference USA Championships, the program's first two trips to the NCAA Tournament, and the 2020 College Cup National Championship. They have also combined to score 35 goals, 30 assists and 100 total points.

Both players have also collected an impressive haul of accolades during their time with the Green & White.

Dolabella, nicknamed "The Mayor," came to Marshall in 2017 and has been a leader on and off the pitch. Since then, he is a four-time member of the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll, a four-time Academic Medalist for a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or better, a two-time All-Conference selection, 2019 All-Academic Team member, the 2019 C-USA Tournament Offensive MVP, two-time United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region selection, and the 2020-21 Conference USA Men's Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year. This season, Dolabella leads the Herd in scoring with a career-best eight goals and 21 points. He is tied for second with five assists, also a career high. So far over his career, he has appeared in 86 matches with 81 starts and logged nearly 7,000 minutes on the pitch. Dolabella is sixth all-time in Marshall history with 21 career goals, is tied for sixth with 15 assists and is seventh with 57 total points.

Dias, nicknamed "The Magician,", came to Marshall in 2019 and has been wowing fans, opponents and broadcasters with his ball-handling skills. The 2020-21 season allowed Dias to be discovered by not only the conference but the nation as well. This past season alone, Dias was honored as the Conference USA Player of the Year, Offensive MVP, Co-Midfielder of the Year, First Team All-C-USA and the Michael L. Slive Co-Male Athlete of the Year. On the national level, he garnered First Team All-Region and First Team All-American honors as well as a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist. Dias was also named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team after netting four assists including the helpers on the last three game-winners. This season he is tied for second on the team with five goals and five assists. In his career, Vitor has appeared in 51 matches with 46 starts, has 14 goals, is tied for sixth all-time at Marshall with 15 assists, and has 43 total points.

The Herd is back in action on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m., at Hoops Family Field for Senior Day with South Carolina making the trip to Huntington. Following the match against the Gamecocks, Marshall has one final regular season match remaining at No. 17 FIU on Nov. 5. The Herd has secured a spot in the upcoming Conference USA Tournament, Nov. 11-14, hosted by Charlotte.

2021 Senior CLASS Award Men's Soccer Finalists
Vitor Dias, Marshall
Pedro Dolabella, Marshall
Matthew Fearnley, Georgia State
Spencer Glass, Indiana
Billy Hency, Loyola University Chicago
Kyle Hiebert, Missouri State
Noah Jensen, Oakland
Matt Nocita, Navy
Pierre Reedy, Penn State
Sean Zawadzki, Georgetown

2021 Senior CLASS Award Women's Soccer Finalists
Joelle Anderson, Pepperdine
Gabby Carle, Florida State
Mikayla Colohan, BYU
Naomi Girma, Stanford
Sydney Harwood, Manhattan
Penelope Hocking, USC
Izzy Rodriguez, Ohio State
Gaby Schwartz, Milwaukee
Frankie Tagliaferri, Rutgers
Kelsey Turnbow, Santa Clara

For all of the latest information on the Marshall men's soccer team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdMSoccer, Facebook at Marshall University Soccer and on www.herdzone.com.

To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules, and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS or Android!

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Marshall University Athletics

Dias and Dolabella Both Named Senior CLASS Award Finalists

Players Mentioned

Vitor Dias

Pedro Dolabella

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