HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The magical season of Marshall’s men’s soccer team will move forward without head coach Chris Grassie and midfielder Pedro Dolabella.
Effective immediately, Grassie has been suspended eight games for an administrative error on card accumulation by the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee.
Dolabella will miss at least four games or the remainder of the season — whichever is longer between the two.
The Thundering Herd (16-2-3) defeated West Virginia 2-1 in a second-round NCAA Tournament match last Sunday without both Grassie and Dolabella. That will count toward the suspension of both the head coach and a junior who is third on the team with 18 points (7 goals, 4 assists).
Dolabella’s four-game suspension would only last through this season if the Herd advanced to the national title game.
“This was an honest mistake,” Marshall Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick said. “There was no ill intent here and no attempt to gain a competitive advantage. We fully support Chris Grassie and the program he is building at Marshall. He is a first-class person who recruits quality student-athletes who represent Marshall University in a positive manner.”
Marshall, the No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament, plays at Washington at 8 p.m. Sunday for a spot in a national quarterfinal.
Dolabella was issued a yellow card and a red card in a 2-1 loss to Kentucky during the 2018 Conference USA Tournament — the Herd’s final match last season.
Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the head coach to know to withhold players from matches.
However, the referee from that match did not follow an NCAA-mandated rule to enter the card into the NCAA’s red card depository — and because of that, Grassie, the C-USA office and Marshall’s athletic administration never received ejection reports.
Dolabella was required to sit out one match this season because of the red card, but instead appeared in every contest until Marshall’s win over the Mountaineers.
Earlier this month, Grassie was named C-USA Coach of the Year, while Dolabella was a second-team all-league selection.