— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall coach Chris Grassie saw opportunities go by the board and then Georgia Southern claw back from deficits twice with similar goals as the teams battled to a 2-2 draw in Sun Belt Conference soccer Friday night at Hoops Family Field/Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex.
“They’re down there celebrating a draw. A terrible goal,” Grassie said of the equalizer the Eagles notched in the 75th minute. “We had some wasted opportunities. Their two goals [were] the exact same goals. We’ll work on that again. Guys are around the ball, but did not defend well. It was there for the taking. We had our chances.”
Georgia Southern started the night tied for the Sun Belt lead with James Madison with seven points. The Eagles are 6-1-4 and 2-0-2 in league play. They are unbeaten across their last eight matches.
Marshall is 4-2-4 and 1-1-2 within the SBC.
Marshall took a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute when Nikita Pakhomov scored from just outside the 18-yard box.
“We did some long-range finishing stuff as part of the game plan,” Grassie said. “We had a couple of looks. I wish we had a couple more.”
The Eagles tied it when Mitch Picksley scored as the Marshall backline slipped up a bit.
In the 26th minute, the Herd’s Adam N’Goran got off a shot in close, but Eagles’ goalkeeper Lucas Maxim made the save.
Two minutes later, the Eagles turned the ball over in their own end and Marshall’s Haruhi Taneda beat Maxim on a shot to the bottom left corner.
Marshall appeared to take a 3-1 lead in the 61st minute on a Joshua Nugent goal, but after VAR had a look, he was ruled offside.
In the 72nd minute, the Herd had separate scoring chances. Joao Roberto had a shot stopped by defender Thengill Orrason and then Thiago Apolinario saw his attempt go off the post.
Directly after, the Eagles got even when Emil Corfitzen’s shot from inside the box seemed to go through the hands of Herd keeper Alan Horrocks. He was making just his second start of the season.
“We had some really small wins and a couple of big losses giving up goals,” Grassie said. “We have to stick with it. Taneda’s goal was reminiscent of the N.C. State game a few years ago. We were pressing, frustrating everybody. We crashed well.”
Marshall had a 14-7 edge in shots. Maxim made two saves and Orrocks one.
“We need wins at this point,” Grassie said. “If we want to win the league, we’ve got to win to do that. To get to the NCAA [Tournament], we’ve got to win.”
Georgia Southern also tied fifth-ranked Clemson, 2-2, on Tuesday and Eagles’ coach Lee Squires liked the tenacity his team showed after trailing in Huntington.
“Short turnaround,” Squires said. “It’s not coming away with a point, but the manner of the game as well. We were down a goal twice. We were second best for about 60 minutes. We gave them the second goal. The character of the boys showed. Not only to get back to 2-2, but come back strong at the end. Maybe we were the more aggressive team. That second goal, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”
The Herd is back in action Tuesday at UNC Greensboro. The two-game road trip continues next Saturday with SBC action against Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C.