Herd Men’s Soccer Reaches Second College Cup Final Four in Program History

Box Score (PDF) | Championship Fund

DALLAS – The 13th-seeded Marshall Men's Soccer team (14-1-7) reached its second College Cup Final Four with a 3-2 over the SMU Mustangs (12-3-6) in Dallas on Sunday in the 2024 NCAA Tournament Round of 8.

"This one is very special," Herd Men's Soccer Head Coach Chris Grassie said about this season's group as he reaches the sixth final four of career and his second at Marshall. "This is the pinnacle of our career, but losing in the Final Four is the most awful feeling you can have. It's gut wrenching. We're gonna go there (Cary) with every intention of winning it. I made the guys put the trophy down for the semifinals. It's a fourth-place trophy. We don't want that. We want to be number one. We're here to win the whole thing."

The Herd's three goals came from Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos, his fifth of the tournament, with Marco Silva and Pablo Simon scoring their first. Rodrigues dos Santos also registered his third multi-goal contribution game of the NCAA Tournament.

"It means a lot," Rodrigues dos Santos said about reaching the College Cup Final Four. "A couple weeks ago you asked how does it feel to be here and I said I came here to win trophies. We're in the process of doing that. Like Chris said, we're not done. That trophy doesn't mean anything to us. We want to win the big trophy."

Aleksa Janjic recorded a pair of saves to pick up his 11th win of the season.

The two sides started slow offensively with just one shot through the first 20 minutes of play. Then in the 24th minute, Thiago Apolinario sent an over-the-top ball to Tarik Pannholzer. Pannholzer took the ball down the left wing and saved it from going out of play.

The senior then found Rodrigues dos Santos who found the back of goal to make it 1-0 Marshall.

The Herd defense stepped up and blocked a pair of SMU attempts in the first eight minutes of the second half. At the tail end of the 56th minute, Theo Goddard found Rodrigues dos Santos who found Silva. Silva first-timed it past SMU keeper Martin Dominguez for his fifth goal of the season and to double MU's lead at 2-0.

The Mustangs cut Marshall's advantage in half with a goal from Milton Lopez at the 57:12 mark.

However, The Herd went back up by two at the 75:54 mark as Rodrigues dos Santos sent Pablo Simon in on goal with the Spainard slotting is shot in the bottom right corner for his fourth of the season to make 3-1.

Lopez tallied a second goal for SMU with just over seven minutes remaining. Janjic stepped up and made a big save with 72 seconds left to keep the Mustangs off the board and help the Green and White hold on for the win.

POSTGAME NOTES
With his four-point match Rodrigues dos Santos now ranks second all-time in program history in points in a season at 35. The Brazilian forward's 15th goal of moves him into a tie with Byron Carmichael for second most in a season in program history.

NEXT UP
Marshall will face top-seeded Ohio State Friday in Cary, North Carolina, at the College Cup Final Four on Friday. First kick on Friday is scheduled for 7:36 p.m.

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---HerdZone.com---

Herd Men’s Soccer Reaches Second College Cup Final Four in Program History

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Team Stats

Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos

Pablo Simon

Marco Silva

Tarik Pannholzer

Players Mentioned

Thiago Apolinario

Aleksa Janjic

Tarik Pannholzer

Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos

Marco Silva

Pablo Simon

Marshall University Athletics