— By David Walsh
No. 2 seed Marshall put together a strong first half, weathered a Kentucky charge midway through the second and then took a charitable goal to regain the momentum and defeat the No. 7 seed Wildcats, 4-1, Sunday in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Hoops Family Field/Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex.
Marshall’s Carl Romberg took a crossing pass in the 18-yard box from Joao Carvalho and put a header home in the 10th minute for a 1-0 lead. Goncalo Machado also had an assist.
Haruhi Taneda put a shot into an open net in the 22nd minute for a 2-0 lead at the half. Romberg sent a ball into the box for Carvalho, who found Taneda
“There were moments in the first half I thought we played quite well,” Herd coach Chris Grassie said. “The second half just wasn’t good. We didn’t play with the correct rhythm. So, we’ll be looking to improve on that. We just go in and try to kill the game every time, instead of settling on the ball and trying to move the ball around. But a 4-1 win over Kentucky, we’ll take it and move on to the next one.”
In the 65th minute, Kentucky (3-10-4) scored when Thomas Berteotti took a pass from Bains Smith, got free in front and beat Herd goalkeeper Alan Horrocks. Just before that, the Wildcats had a shot from close range go over the goal.
Then came the break for Marshall (11-2-4). Wildcats’ freshman keeper Benjamin Rasmussen dropped a ball in front of the goal and Adam N’Goran swooped into boot it into the empty net in the 73rd minute to make it 3-1.
“We saw on the video and he fumbled or dropped the ball at times,” Grassie said. “It would be great for Adam to stay on the doorstep.”
Less than 2 minutes later, Alvaro Alvarez sent a pass over the top to Joao Roberto, who connected to end the scoring and move the Herd into the semifinal round Wednesday night.
Marshall, which shared the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title with West Virginia, will play No. 6 seed South Carolina in one semifinal Wednesday night. The Gamecocks topped No. 3 seed UCF, 2-1, later Sunday in Huntington.
On the other side of the bracket, West Virginia topped Georgia Southern 4-0 and Coastal Carolina defeated James Madison 2-1 in Sunday quarterfinals in Morgantown.
Grassie felt the Herd got a bit sloppy before UK’s goal.
Romberg enjoyed the goal and assist, but took more satisfaction in the outcome.
“I’m really happy to get on the scoresheet, but to win is what matters most. At 2-1, I didn’t feel happy at all. Seems like the momentum was shifting. We were not playing well. I’m glad it happened to us now. I thought it was kind of a wake-up call. We’ll be ready for the semifinal I can tell you that.”
UK coach Johan Cedergren said Sunday’s match partially summed up the Wildcats’ 2026 season.
“Didn’t play to the expectations, standards we set,” he said. “Today was just another repeat of how our season has gone.”
Right before the Berteotti goal, Costa Iliadis sent a shot from close range over an open goal.
“That’s the kind of season we’ve had,” Cedergren said. “We made some adjustments before the half and they worked in the second half. We did more than enough to get back to 2-2. Then all of a sudden they score two. Right before that Benji had just been run into. I think he was thinking about contact again. He’s a freshman. That third goal breaks our backs. We were pushing, sending numbers and then it’s 3-1. Too big of a hill to climb. I wish the best for Chris (Grassie) the rest of the way.”
Marshall’s record is 7-0-1 since a 4-0 loss at UCF on October 4.