— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall made Senior Night a success on a rainy Saturday night with a win over South Carolina, 4-0, at Hoops Family Field.
The Thundering Herd improved to 11-1-3, 5-0-2 in Conference USA. That sets up the showdown with Florida International on Friday in Miami. The Panthers lead the league at 6-0-1 for 19 points. Marshall is No. 2 in the league at 5-0-2 for 17 points. That means first place and top seed for the C-USA Tournament are up for grabs.
The four goals mark the second biggest output for the Herd. The season-high is six goals in the 6-1 win over James Madison on Aug. 26 in Harrisonburg, Va.
A year ago Marshall beat Charlotte in the home finale to win the league and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Herd went on the amazing run and won the College Cup with a win over Indiana in the championship game.
Joao Souza scored at 11:56 to give the Herd a 1-0 lead. Pedro Dolabella made it 2-0 with a score at 64:01. Dolabella got the assist on a goal by Ibrahima Diop at 66:04 for a 3-0 lead. Dolabella wasn’t through. He scored a 76:52 on a setup by Adjetey Alexande.
Dolabella leads C-USA in scoring with 26 points on 10 goals and six assists. Milo Josef got assists on the first two goals.
Marshall extended its winning streak to seven and unbeaten match streak to 13. The Herd finishes with a home mark of 4-0-4.
Dolabella, who works in the midfield, was one of the players recognized on Senior Night. Also honored were goalkeeper Oliver Semmle, defender Ryan Sirk, center back Nathan Dossantos, midfielder Vinicius Fernandes, forward Ibrahima Diop, forward Noah Raphael, defender Davi Edwards, right back Jan-Eric Leinhos and midfielder Vitor Dias.
This groupe has appeared in 409 matches, made 333 starts, logged over 30,100 minutes on the pitch, scored 61 goals, and have 56 assists. Semmle now has eight clean sheets on the season and the team has nine.
The Herd now leads the series with the Gamecocks 12-5-1. This was the second straight match against a Top Five team for the visitors.
On Friday, the NCAA Men’s Soccer Committee released its Top 16 Rankings for the early seedings for the NCAA Tournament. The Top 16 teams get a first-round bye once the NCAA Tournament kicks off in mid-November. Marshall came in No. 4 behind Georgetown, Oregon State and Washington.