Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Defending champion men's soccer team ranked No. 1 in preseason
8/4/2021 7:37:00 PM | General, Men's Soccer, Big Green Scholarship Foundation, Word on the Herd
Marshall received 22 first-place votes in United Soccer Coaches rankings
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall men's soccer team is still the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.
That shouldn't be a stunner. The Thundering Herd, after all, is fewer than three months removed from winning the Division I national championship. The day after that title win – a 1-0 overtime decision against annual soccer power Indiana – the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 had Marshall in the top spot with 21 of the possible 25 first-place votes. One might be befuddled how four voters could rank anyone but the Herd in the top spot after hoisting the championship hardware, but that list shrunk when the preseason poll was released Tuesday afternoon. Now, 22 of 24 voters rank Marshall as the favorite entering the season. One voter chose Pitt in the top spot, while another went with Clemson.
"It's nice to be voted No. 1, of course," Marshall coach Chris Grassie said. "It's more of a reflection of winning the College Cup a few months ago. While this is nice, our goal is to be No. 1 in the last poll of the year."
Still, Marshall picked up more believers over the summer … and for good reason.
Marshall's quest to repeat is strengthened by who returns from the national championship team. Only Jamil Roberts, who scored the game-winner against Indiana, will be missing from the starting lineup. The Herd returns 83 percent of its goal scoring, 83 percent of the assists and 92 percent of the minutes played.
That's not good news for the rest of college soccer.
"I really like our chances this year," Grassie said. "On paper, we should have the best team yet since I've been here. Although we only lost one very good player from last year's team, we return everyone else who played for us in the tournament, and we've added five or six lads who should compete for playing time."
That's why it's not surprising that Marshall has a firm grip on the No. 1 spot entering the 2021 season. In the poll, the Herd is followed by Indiana, Pitt, North Carolina, Georgetown, Clemson, Wake Forest, Stanford, Washington and Seton Hall. Marshall defeated Indiana, North Carolina, Georgetown and Clemson on its way to the national title a few months ago. Those teams finished last season a combined 44-10-12.
The Herd will not have an easy road in the regular season. A scan of the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll finds five Marshall opponents in the rankings, plus two others receiving votes. League mate Kentucky, which is ranked No. 14, visits Hoops Family Field on Sept. 25. No. 15 Virginia Tech will meet the Herd in Harrisonburg, Virginia, on Aug. 29. Charlotte, another C-USA school, is No. 18 and hosts Marshall on Oct. 23. The Herd will play at No. 21 James Madison on Aug. 26. Coastal Carolina, a new program in C-USA, squeezed into the rankings at No. 25 and will visit Huntington on Sept. 4 in the Herd's regular season home opener.
Bowling Green and Akron, a pair of non-conference opponents, received votes.
This is Marshall's 17th consecutive week in the national rankings. Prior to 2019, the Herd men's soccer program had only spent one week inside the Top 25 – Week 5 of 2001 at No. 23. Marshall didn't crack the national rankings again until Oct. 15, 2019 at No. 21, then climbed as high as No. 11 by the end of that season. Grassie's group was then picked No. 12 in last season's preseason poll and entered the NCAA tournament at No. 10 before reeling off five wins for the title.
The last preseason No. 1 to win the national title was Stanford in 2017. That was the end of a stretch of three consecutive national championships for the Cardinal, but no men's team has been able to repeat since.
"This is our best chance ever to win a national championship," Grassie said. "Given how little time has passed since we were all together and playing really well, and how our team looks right now, I'm optimistic that this will be a fantastic year."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a nine-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
