MORGANTOWN — West Virginia men’s soccer fell to Marshall, stopping it from repeating as Sun Belt Conference champions.
No. 12 Marshall beat the No. 17 Mountaineers 3-2 in the second overtime in the conference semifinals Wednesday night at Dick Dlesk Stadium. It was Marshall’s first win in the Mountain State Derby since 2023, and now the Thundering Herd hosts UCF in the title game on Sunday as the higher remaining seed. UCF beat No. 1-seeded Kentucky 1-0 on Wednesday night.
With the loss, WVU moved to 12-4-3, but WVU still leads the in-state rivalry 18-9-4. Marshall moved up to 11-2-5. WVU will now wait for an NCAA bid.
“I thought it was a really good game,” head coach Dan Stratford said. “A fiercely contested game, and a game the longer it went on, the more dominant I felt like we were.”
It was physical and competitive all game, and looked like a rivalry game. The ref hesitated most of the night to pull a card out of his pocket or to change a rule with replay, but in the 110th minute, WVU committed a handball in the area. It was hard to tell, so the ref went to replay and ruled that it was a handball, giving a penalty kick to Marshall.
Freshman Joao Alves took the kick for the Thundering Herd and drilled it right down the middle as the Mountaineers’ keeper Marc Bonnaire dove left. The goal sent Marshall to the Sun Belt Conference Championship, winning 3-2.
“Slight misjudgment from the two center backs,” Stratford said. “The ball bounced between them and was coming over Carlos’ [Hernando] head. I think in the running motion, it hit his hand. I haven’t seen it back. I asked the referee, just for clarification… I think ultimately, it’s just a really cruel moment in the game.”
It was back-and-forth all game, and was much different from the last meeting between the two. Just two weeks ago, WVU rolled Marshall 3-0 in Morgantown, allowing WVU to get the second seed.
This time, Marshall struck first after a whole half of nothing. Junior Carl Romberg slotted it past Bonnaire for the first goal of the game in the 48th minute. It was Marshall’s first goal of the series since the 77th minute in the 2023 meeting.
WVU answered quickly with a goal from sophomore Isaac Scheer, putting the finishing touches to knot it up at one apiece. Scheer’s 53rd-minute goal was his second goal of the season. He scored recently against Old Dominion.
But, Marshall answered right back with a goal from junior Joao Roberto snuck it past the keeper amidst a box full of bodies to retake the lead, 2-1, in the 57th minute.
Then again, WVU scored on a goal from the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Marcus Caldeira, who scored his 10th of the year and third against Marshall this year, tying it back up, 2-2.
In the span of 15 minutes, there were four goals. In the past three meetings, the two schools combined for three goals.
“The longer the second half went on, I thought the stronger we looked; similarly, in overtime. ” Stratford said. “The nature that the goals came almost brought the game to life a bit in the second half there. I just told them I was really proud of the effort. Really, really proud of the performance.”
Despite the back and forth, WVU was pushing the pace again, similarly to how it did in the regular season meeting. The Mountaineers outshot Marshall 18-11. WVU did have its chances. The ball just didn’t bounce its way.
WVU waits for the selection show on Nov. 17, where the Mountaineers should be one of the higher seeds despite their loss. Stratford said it would’ve been nice to have a shot at raising the trophy on Sunday, but there’s a whole lot more soccer to play.
“It’ll be a tough one to swallow,” Stratford said. “We know the outcome of the other semifinal, so we would’ve gotten to play here again, and now Marshall will get to host, so that will make it sting a little bit more. But we’ve had a fantastic regular season. We’ve got some good ranked wins, and we’ll see how things shake out.”
