— By David Walsh
Marshall’s soccer team wouldn’t be denied and will next play for its second National Championship in four years.
The Thundering Herd got a memorable goal from Tarik Pannholzer in the 7th minute and goalkeeper Aleksa Janjic and the backline kept top seed Ohio State off the board to prevail, 1-0, in the second semifinal Friday night at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
It marked Chris Grassie’s 100th win as Herd head coach.
“Give credit to Ohio State. They’re the toughest team we played all year,” Grassie said. “We scored early again and had to defend. We’re resilient.”
Marshall, a No. 13 seed when the 48-team tournament started, will take on unseeded and upstart Vermont for the championship at 8 p.m. Monday. ESPN2 will air the game live.
Vermont (16-2-5) won Friday’s first semifinal over No. 3 seed Denver in penalty kicks, 4-3, after the teams played to a 1-1 draw after regulation and two overtimes.
Marshall, ranked 8th in the final United Soccer Coaches Association poll, is 15-1-7. The Herd has not lost since late August when Xavier prevailed, 2-0, in Cincinnati.
Ohio State outshot Marshall 20-8, but could never get anything in the net as it was shut out for just the second time all season.
Pannholzer slipped behind the defense on the counter-attack and ran onto a long goal kick from Janjic. Ohio State keeper Max Trejo came off his line, collided with teammate Siggi Magnusson at the edge of the penalty area and Pannholzer walked it into the goal. Janjic got the assist to go with his eighth clean sheet. That stat ties him for most shutouts in the Sun Belt Conference. He is No. 9 nationally.
Moments earlier David Ajagbe’s header off a corner kick ricocheted off the crossbar for Ohio State.
With 17:01 left, the Herd’s Takahiro Fujita went down and left the field on stretcher. His condition was not known. He did a thumbs up and clapped his hands as he rode off the field.
“The guy have each other back,” Grassie said. “Think of him now. Prepare for Monday. Relief that we can do anything.”
Ohio State had plenty of chances to get even, but Janjic rose to the occasion with five saves. The junior denied Ohio State’s Parker Grinstead from point-blank range just inside the box at 61:10.
The loss was a tough end to a difficult week for Ohio State, who made the trip without senior defender Nathan Demian, who had to watch the game from the hospital after he was injured in an off-campus shooting early last Sunday morning. The Buckeye had beaten Wake Forest on Saturday night.
The Buckeyes honored Demian, who shared an inspirational message with the team before the game, by wearing “Do It For Dolla” shirts (“Dolla” is Demian’s nickname) during warmups and badges with his No. 3 on their jerseys.
Yaniv Bazini scored at 83:07 to save the Vermont season and force overtime. Then penalty kicks would be needed to decide the winner.
Bazini, Zach Barrett, Max Murray and Maximilian Kissel buried their chances in the shootout. Denver’s Trevor Wright hit the crossbar in the fifth round to end it.
Vermont became the first America East school to advance to a national title game in any sport.
“It’s a great feeling. The hard work and dedication that some of our guys have put in for last four, five years, it finally see it come all together — it’s pretty special,” Murray said, a fifth-year senior. “But most importantly, we still have one more game to go.”
The Herd won its first national title in 2020 though the tournament was held in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions. Marshall collected the crown with a 1-0 win over Indiana in overtime.
Ohio State, the Big Ten Tournament champion, closes 16-2-4.