Marshall Men’s Soccer Recap
By Anthony Doria, FM88 Sports
Aug. 30, 2025
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM)- To kick off a busy Labor Day Weekend for Marshall athletics, the Marshall faithful piled into Hoops Family Field as #2 Marshall hosted #12 Virginia Tech in one of the most touted matchups this year.
The last time these two teams faced off, the Hokies prevailed with a 3-2 win in 2021. Marshall looked to beat the Hokies for the first time since 1994, which occurred in Huntington.
Being in Huntington certainly looked to help the Herd, as Marshall has not lost a game at home since its round of 16 loss to Stanford in 2023.
The first half was a defensive battle despite Marshall putting up double-digit shots and having some golden opportunities just get away from it.
The Hokies did not need much to get on the board, as their first attack in the 42nd minute on a breakaway was scored by Ian Marcano on a perfect centering pass by Noe Uwimana. This led to Marshall trailing 1-nil going into half, certainly a rare sight.
Marshall did not waver and in the 52nd minute the Herd would be awarded a penalty kick and Rai Pinto would find the back of the net to tie the game at 1. Pinto is perfect on all of his penalty kicks going back to last year, as he was 3-3 in the previous season.
It would again be very defensive as Marshall’s attempts were thwarted by reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Week Sam Joseph making some big saves.
Another misplayed pass by Marshall would haunt the Herd in the 79th minute as a breakaway by the Hokies would be scored as the shot from Alex Perez into the top right corner would perfectly place it out of reach of Dan Rose and put the Hokies ahead, and likely get them the win.
The last 5 minutes were hectic. After a Marshall attack, a player was left on the ground in front of the goal. The referees would let the action go on for 30 seconds until it was stopped to help the player. After a lot of jawing from Marshall Players and head coach Chris Grassie, A VAR review would be called for the foul in the box. After a couple of minutes, the ref would signal for a penalty kick, and the stadium erupted as Marshall looked to tie.
Despite all the drama and displeasure from the Herd faithful, it would come down to the right foot of Momo Diop. He would tap the ball to the right, and he would sneak it in as Sam Joseph slipped and was just out of reach of saving it.
With 2 minutes to go, both teams played it safe, and the game would end in a 2-2 draw.
Marshall avoided what would have been a bad loss, as it likely would have dropped the Herd out of the top 10 in the polls.
Both teams remained undefeated as Marshall is 1-0-1 and Virginia Tech will be 2-0-1.
Marshall will have a lot of days to rest as they will travel to take on the St. John’s Red Storm on September 5th. First touch will be at 7 p.m.