— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — If at first you score and it’s negated, score again.
Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos did just that Wednesday night to lead No. 7 Marshall past Virginia Commonwealth, 1-0, at a wet Hoops Family Field/Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex.
Shortly after seeing his apparent goal at 27:10 waived off due to an offside call, dos Santos and Loic Sany Kong worked a 2-on-1 to perfection. Kang, who could’ve taken the shot, let the play develop and slid a pass over to dos Santos, who sent a right-foot shot into the bottom right of the goal at 35:15. It was his third of the season.
“Showed great chemistry on that one,” Herd coach Chris Grassie said. “So composed. That’s the kind of response we’ve shown all season. The resilience has been good. We talked all week about being unselfish. It doesn’t matter who gets all the goals. I said listen all the scouts will be at the Final Four. Let’s get there whatever it takes and then they can showcase themselves.”
A year ago, dos Santos had a banner year with Memphis in the American Athletic Conference. He was the league’s offensive player of the year with 14 goals and 33 points. He then came to Marshall via the portal.
On the negated call, the referee used a video assisted review to check the play and ruled the called offside came first and stood.
The Herd had two other good first-half scoring chances. Rams goalkeeper John Ermini stopped a shot by Marco Silva at 29:11. At 30:24, Ermini deflected a header by Tarik Pannholzer over the crossbar.
The Herd got off seven shots with three on goal. VCU had no shots on goal and two shots overall.
“I thought the first half we were moving the ball very good,” Grassie said. “All of a sudden it got a little tight. We got away with one at the end. Dan (keeper Dan Rose) made a great save. A couple of attacks in the second half we didn’t make the extra pass. The chemistry’s still growing on the front line.”
In the second half, the Herd got a 2-on-1 with Marco Silva sprinting down the left side. He crossed the ball to dos Santos in front of the goal, but his shot went over the crossbar.
The Rams got off two shots in the 54th minute, but Rose made the saves on Theo Drennen and Andres Rodriguez.
In the 70th minute, the Herd had a turnover in its end, Mouhamed Tucker got the ball for the Rams and sent a shot just wide of goal. In the 77th minute, Rose went down to stop a shot by VCU’s Gerado Castillo. Rose secured his second shutout.
“It was fun,” Rose said. “It was a tough game. We knew we had to win. Their RPI is high. That was an amazing goal. It’s what we do all the time in training. We played really smart at the end. Had some saves at the end. Could tell they were coming with a bit more.”
Marshall (6-1-1) is back in action Sunday in a doubleheader at Hoops Family Field. The Herd women’s team plays Troy at 1 p.m. The Herd men take on Old Dominion at 4:30. It’s the Sun Belt Conference home opener for Marshall (1-0 after 2-1 win at South Carolina last Friday).
VCU, which had a two-game win streak end, is 4-2-2. It entered tied for No. 22 with Hofstra in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll.