— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall got two early goals from Carl Romberg and the Thundering Herd’s back line helped keep Central Florida off the board to chalk up a 2-0 win Tuesday night in the Sun Belt Conference regular-season finale at Hoops Family Field/Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex.
The No. 17 Thundering Herd ends the regular season 6-2-1 in Sun Belt play for 19 points. That gives Marshall the No. 3 seed in the SBC Tournament that begins Sunday with two games at top seed Kentucky and two others, including the Herd’s at No. 2 West Virginia.
In the 11th minute Tuesday, Romberg got free outside the box, took a pass and then blasted a shot with his right foot over UCF keeper Juanvi Munoz into the net.
Shortly after, in the 15th minute, Romberg took a pass from Alvaro Alvarez just outside the box, worked the ball to his left foot and then fired a low shot past a diving Munoz.
The Golden Knights had their best chance in the 41st minute. Lilian Rincol got open just outside the box, sent a shot off the right foot high down the middle and Herd keeper Eddie DeMarco went high to deflect the ball over the crossbar. The transfer from Delaware finished with three saves.
In the 49th minute, Roberg came close to a hat trick. He got a pass just in front of the UCF goal, but missed high with the net open.
“It feels amazing. We want to make up for WVU (3-0 loss) and I think we did,” Romberg said. “We go up to WVU again and hopefully get a better result.”
Marshall (9-2-5) ends the regular season 8-0-1 at home and 1-2-4 on the road. The road win came October 18 at James Madison.
UCF (7-6-3) had its unbeaten streak end at seven and had won five of those matches.
“Every game in the conference means a lot,” Romberg said. “We beat UK and they won the conference. We’re staying hungry. We wanted to make a statement in our last home game.”
The top four Sun Belt teams entering Tuesday did enough to hold their spots.
Kentucky and Old Dominion played to a 1-1 draw, giving the Wildcats an outright regular season championship with 22 points. West Virginia won at South Carolina, 2-1, to take second with 21 points.
Marshall finished third and Georgia Southern fourth. UCF is No. 5, Georgia State No. 6, Old Dominion No. 7 and Coastal Carolina No. 8.
In Lexington on Sunday, No. 1 UK faces No. 8 Coastal Carolina at 3 p.m. At 7 p.m., it’s No. 4 Georgia Southern against No. 5 Central Florida.
In Morgantown, No. 2 WVU faces No. 7 Old Dominion at 3 p.m., and No. 3 Marshall takes on No. 6 Georgia State in the nightcap at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
Semifinal matches are one week from Wednesday at 7 p.m. at both sites. The winners will play the following Sunday at the home of the highest remaining seed.