Marshall Women’s Soccer Preview
By Shane Darling, FM88 Sports Director
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) — Louisiana Tech University fields more than 320 student-athletes, but this weekend, 11 of them will become the first to compete in a Sun Belt Conference match in 25 years.
After 13 seasons in Conference USA, the Bulldogs took Texas State’s spot in the Sun Belt after the Bobcats left for the new-look Pac 12. On Saturday, Marshall (4-2-2) plays host to Louisiana Tech (2-5-1) at Hoops Family Field for a 7 p.m. kickoff. This game officially welcomes the new foes back to the conference where they competed from 1991-2001, as this is the first SBC matchup of the year for the Bulldogs across all 14 varsity sports.
“I’m excited to dive into Sun Belt Conference action,” Matt Lodge, first-year Louisiana Tech Head Coach, said. “There’s not an easy game in the Sun Belt. This is why I have taken the job, to help transition into one of the premiere soccer conferences in the nation… I think we’re just excited for the ambition of our department, our president and our athletic director. They know that we want to play at the highest level possible. The Sun Belt is a great step in that direction.”
Lodge looks to rebuild this Louisiana Tech program as it went 4-13-2 last year and has not had a winning record since the 2020-21 season. Also, the Bulldogs scored just 12 goals in both of its last two seasons.
“I think we’ve got a lot of really good pieces, and I think they mesh well together in certain areas of the field,” Lodge said. “In other certain areas, as a coaching staff we need to get it right to get the most out of what we have. I think we’ve got talent to prove… In recent years, Louisiana Tech has struggled in the attacking third. This year, I think we’ve done a pretty good job of it, we’re already at 10 goals… That’s something going into this season, when I took the job, I wanted to make us more of an attacking threat.”
Lodge came to Louisiana Tech from Murray State, where he was the head coach for eight seasons. He has the most wins in Racer women’s soccer history with 70. The Ohio Valley Conference named him Coach of the Year for the 2020-21 season when he guided the Racers to a 9-1 league record and an OVC regular season title. In 2018, Lodge proved he can make an impact quickly because he won an OVC Tournament title in his first year as head coach, giving the Racers their fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Thundering Herd rides a wave of defensive momentum into the match because it conceded just three goals in its last four games, two of which occurred during the team’s 4-2 victory over Bellarmine on Sunday. This recent defensive production stems mainly from junior goalkeeper Emma Durand, who was named Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week last week after she posted a clean sheet in Marshall’s scoreless draw against Murray State and recorded a career-high 10 saves in Marshall’s 1-0 loss to No. 7 West Virginia University.
“It means a lot,” Durand said. “I think it’s all the work that we have done since the preseason last year. I also think I earned this thanks to my teammates and the other goalkeepers that I work with during the week. Just losing 1-0 was good. I think we did really well and my defense in front of me was good too.”
WVU put constant pressure on Durand, tallying 25 shots in the matchup. Durand’s 10 saves fell one save shy of tying the program record. The Herd managed just three shots in the contest, putting one on net. Still, Durand said she thought the Herd played well enough to earn a draw.
“The way we defended, I really think we could have tied,” Durand said. “We conceded the goal like 5 minutes after the beginning of the second half, so it’s kind of frustrating. But again, I was happy with the way we played. The way we applied our methodology. The way we defended. Personally, I was also happy about my game.”
The Herd’s methodology is simple: defense, defense, defense. Marshall enjoys keeping possession and playing out of the back of its formation.
“I think it’s going to be a very tactical game,” Lodge said. “I think’s it’s going to be one that we have to get spot on in the film room. We can’t just go out there and chase and run and work because they are very technical. Durand, the goalkeeper, does a fantastic job with her feet. They almost build with her making a back three. We just have to be smart with if we do press, we’ve got to make sure that we shadow and cover what’s behind us and keep moving as a unit. Certainly, I think if we get the press wrong and try to press too early or too often, Marshall is really going to pick us off and then they’re going at our back three or back four.”
Head Coach Rafa Simoes brought this defensive style of play to the women’s program after spending two seasons as an assistant coach under Marshall Men’s Soccer Head Coach Chris Grassie. Simoes is in his third season at the helm. Last year, he helped bring Marshall back to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in three years.
Marshall was able to get going offensively in its last game against Bellarmine. Freshman Izzy Young, who came to Huntington from England while playing club at Chelsea, scored her first
collegiate goal 10 minutes into the game. Marshall capitalized on a penalty kick to go up 2-0 right before halftime. Sophomore Geovanna Souza tallied a goal and an assist in the second half to give Marshall its highest-scoring game of the season in its 4-2 victory, just the confidence boost a team could use right before opening conference play. This was a big turnaround as the Herd scored just one goal total in the three games prior to Bellarmine.
“I think ending with a win was really good,” Durand said. “I think there is some stuff we still have to improve. I think we are more confident because we won…This is the moment to prove how we can play, apply the methodology, and be brave and give everything… The objective is to go to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and then win.”
Louisiana Tech struggles defensively as it allowed 2.38 goals per game in the pre-conference schedule, which is more than every team in the Sun Belt Conference. Freshman goalkeeper Mackenzie Lorkowski averages a conference-leading nine saves per contest and holds a 78.8% save percentage, good for fifth in the SBC.
“I think in these early games, as a freshman we have kind of thrown Lorkowski into the deep end to see what she’s made of,” Lodge said. “She makes big saves. She’s calm. She’s good with her feet. And she’s a great kid too. Goalkeeping is one of the hardest positions, and yet she’s able to make those big saves.”
This issue is that Lorkowski faces over 22 shots per game. That is more than any other goalkeeper in the conference faces and is over nine shots more than Emma Durand sees per game.
The Herd’s Wiktoria Mikrut will look to exploit this as she is a shot-taking machine with 33 on the season, which leads the Sun Belt Conference. Five of these shots found the back of the net,
tying her for third in the Sun belt Conference in goals. However, Mikrut has cooled off in open play as of late. Other than a penalty kick goal on Sunday against Bellarmine, Mikrut has not scored since she recorded a hat trick against Belmont on August 27.
Offensively, Abby Hanton and Madison Pensom lead the Bulldogs with three goals apiece. Louisiana Tech did not have anyone reach three goals in the entirety of last season. However, the Bulldogs have just four goal scorers this year, compared to Marshall’s seven.
Hanton scored against No. 15 Texas State in Louisiana Tech’s last game on Sunday to equalize four minutes into the second half. Texas State amped up the pressure, and the Bulldogs only managed one more shot on net throughout the rest of the contest, en route to a 3-1 Louisiana Tech loss. The Bulldogs have not won a game since August 30 and are 0-3 in their last three matches.
“It’s just been a pre-conference season of learning,” Lodge said. “You know, we’re not happy about the amount of wins and losses that we have right now but I think we’re happy with several performances, and it’s just about can we string ninety minutes together.
“I think we’re coming off probably our best performance of the season against 15th-ranked Texas State. Now, obviously a 3-1 loss isn’t something to write home about, but I think certainly the performance was there. I thought we gifted all three goals, and when you play against a nationally ranked team, when you make mistakes, you’re going to be punished… It’s just again putting ninety minutes together when we’re tired. We don’t have a great deal of depth this year. So, I think that’s one thing we’ve got to be smart about, just staying committed to the cause for ninety minutes.”
The two sides faced off seven times when both programs competed in Conference USA from 2013-19. Louisiana Tech leads the all-time series 3-2-2, and the Bulldogs won the last matchup 3-2 in October 2019.
You can tune in to Saturday’s game on 88.1 WMUL-FM or online on Stream 1 at www.marshall.edu/wmul. FM88 Sports’ Anthony Doria and Ethan Peltier are on the call with pregame starting at 6:45 p.m. The FM 88 Sports Team X account, @WMUL_Sports, will also provide live updates of the game.