— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall fans were on the edge of their seats with 5 minutes left and the Thundering Herd and Eastern Illinois locked in a 1-all tie.
Then in the 85th minute, Carl Romberg got open behind the Eastern Illinois back line, took a pass from Joao Carvalho fired a shot with the right foot inside the post for the go-ahead goal, and Marshall held off the Panthers to escape with the 2-1 win Tuesday night at Hoops Family Field/Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex.
“We talk a lot about that,” Romberg said. “Aim first, power second. The coaches have been doing this longer than we have. You can learn so much from the coaches. At the end of the day, do what they tell you.”
Cool as you like from Carl 🥶 LET’S GO! pic.twitter.com/1Bu3Uzcb9q
— Marshall University Men’s Soccer (@HerdMSoccer) September 23, 2026
Eastern Illinois had the first big scoring chance in the 36th minute when Nolan Getzinger got in alone on Herd keeper Yurji Obert, but Obert denied him.
In the 40th minute, the Herd got a corner kick into the box, a scramble ensued and Joshua Nugent got control of the ball and put it past Panthers keeper Kai Odagiri for a 1-0 lead at the half.
Both teams had chances in the second half, but Romberg finally broke through in the 85th minute.
“It’s hard to say. We’re between games between two big rivals [1-0 win at Kentucky last Friday and Sunday’s home matchup against West Virginia],” Grassie said. “We played within ourselves. We’re on the trajectory to be a great team. It might take until 2027, the end of next year. You have to learn the little lessons. This team has great potential. We’re still learning. How quickly we learn those lessons is big.”
Grassie was happy to see Romberg deliver.
“Fantastic. He did have about seven or eight warmup chances,” Grassie said. “He saved it for the big occasion. He’s got radar range. Their keeper made some good saves. We made it easy. We have to finish better. Fix the little things and we can be very good. How we actually get there we’ll see.”
Romberg said his team did what’s needed to win a game like this.
“Nothing’s been easy with this group,” Romberg said. “We find a way to grind it out. We’re very resilient. At the end of the day, we win a game like this. I’m so proud of the guys. Kentucky, then WVU. This was in the middle. You’re Marshall and you expect to win. I look forward to WVU. I know the coaches are already game planning. Just keep it going.”
Marshall (4-1-2) played its second game unranked. The Herd dropped from the Top 25 two weeks ago after a 2-1 home loss to Utah Valley.
In this week’s, United Soccer Coaches Association poll, Marshall checked in at No. 26.
Eastern Illinois drops to 1-4-2.
Marshall’s next match is Sunday at home against West Virginia. Start time is 7:15 p.m. The Mountaineers came in No. 21 in this week’s poll.
Grassis knows the scope of Sunday’s game between the Mountain State and Sun Belt Conference rivals.
“Should be a good one. They’re a very good team again,” Grassie said. “It’ll be a tough matchup as always. We’ll have to be at our best. The faster we learn the lessons, the better we will be, the sooner we’ll be good. Again we have all the potential in the world.”