# 2023 Marshall Thundering Herd men's soccer team

The 2023 Marshall Thundering Herd men's soccer team represented Marshall University during the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 45th season of the university fielding a men's varsity soccer program. The Thundering Herd, led by seventh-year head coach Chris Grassie, played their home games at Hoops Family Field as members of the Sun Belt Conference.
The Thundering Herd finished the regular season with a 14–2–0 record winning the Sun Belt Conference men's soccer regular season championship. This marked the first team championship Marshall has won in the Sun Belt Conference. The 14–2–0 record also marks the best regular season Marshall men's soccer has ever had.
Marshall continued their dominance into the Sun Belt Conference tournament where they got revenge on the two teams that defeated them in the regular season; Kentucky, and West Virginia. They ultimately won the Sun Belt tournament with a score of 3–2 against fierce rival West Virginia to clinch a spot in the NCAA tournament. This also marked the first tournament championship
Marshall made school history on November 13, 2023 as they laid claim to the No.1 overall seed in the NCAA men's soccer tournament during the selection show. Despite being the top seed overall, they lost in the third round to Stanford.

## Background

The season prior, Marshall finished 11-4-4 after losing in the third round of the 2022 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.
Marshall was ranked 11th in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll and 2nd in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll.

## Roster

Updated August, 2023
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | IRL | Dan Rose |
| 4 | DF | ENG | Alex Bamford |
| 5 | MF | USA | Ryan Holmes |
| 6 | MF | BRA | Guga Veiga |
| 7 | FW | FRA | Adam Aoumaich |
| 8 | MF | JPN | Taimu Okiyoshi |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Álvaro García Pascual |
| 10 | FW | JAM | Matthew Bell |
| 11 | MF | ESP | Pablo Simon |
| 12 | DF | BRA | Joao Roberto |
| 13 | DF | USA | Ethan Prescott |
| 15 | DF | JPN | Takahiro Fujita |
| 16 | DF | BRA | Felipe Santos |
| 17 | MF | BRA | Filipe Short |
| 18 | FW | ARG | Agustin Iusem |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | MF | USA | Nikola Sljivic |
| 20 | MF | DEN | Alex Stjernegaard |
| 21 | MF | FRA | Theo Godard |
| 24 | DF | GHA | Mohammed Seidu |
| 25 | DF | GER | Morris Duggan |
| 27 | MF | MAR | Aymane Sordo |
| 29 | GK | USA | Gabe Sitler |
| 31 | DF | POR | Rai Pinto |
| 32 | MF | JPN | Masaya Sekiguchi |
| 38 | GK | DEN | Paul Weincierz |
| 43 | DF | BRA | Braian Amaro |
| 44 | FW | GHA | Alexander Adjetey |
| 47 | MF | USA | Marco Silva |
| 49 | FW | FRA | Illias Aoumaich |
| 99 | GK | PAR | Gabriel Perrotta |

## Goal Scorers

Source:
| Rank | Player | Goals |
| 1 | Matthew Bell | 10 |
| 2 | Alvaro Garcia-Pascual | 8 |
| 3 | Marco Silva | 7 |
| 3 | Pablo Simon | 7 |
| 5 | Adam Aoumaich | 5 |
| 6 | Alexander Adjetey | 4 |
| 6 | Aymane Sordo | 4 |
| 8 | Braian Amaro | 2 |
| 8 | Morris Duggan | 2 |
| 9 | Theo Godard | 1 |
| 9 | Agustin Iusem | 1 |
| 9 | Taimu Okiyoshi | 1 |
| 9 | Rai Pinto | 1 |
| 9 | Joao Roberto | 1 |
| 9 | Alexander Stjernegaard | 1 |

## Schedule

Source:
| Date Time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (Attendance) City, State |
| Regular season ||||||
| August 24* 7:15 pm, ESPN+ | No. 11 | Oakland | W 4–0 | 1–0–0 | Hoops Family Field (1,492) Huntington, WV |
| August 28* 7:15 pm, ESPN+ | No. 11 | Wright State | W 5–0 | 2–0–0 | Hoops Family Field (1,135) Huntington, WV |
| September 1* 7:15 pm, ESPN+ | No. 5 | Xavier | W 3–0 | 3–0–0 | Hoops Family Field (1,713) Huntington, WV |
| September 5* 6:00 pm, ACCN | No. 2 | at Pittsburgh | W 3–1 | 4–0–0 | Petersen Sports Complex (1,081) Pittsburgh, PA |
| September 8* 7:15 am, ESPN+ | No. 2 | High Point | W 2–1 | 5–0–0 | Hoops Family Field (2,135) Huntington, WV |
| September 12* 7:15 pm, ESPN+ | No. 2 | Cleveland State | W 5–0 | 6–0–0 | Hoops Family Field (1,579) Huntington, WV |
| September 16 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 2 | at No. 9 James Madison | W 3–1 | 7–0–0 (1–0–0) | Sentara Park (1,119) Harrisonburg, VA |
| September 23 7:15 pm, ESPN+ | No. 1 | No. 3 UCF | W 1–0 | 8–0–0 (2–0–0) | Hoops Family Field (3,075) Huntington, WV |
| September 27* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 1 | at VCU | W 1–0 | 9–0–0 | Sports Backers Stadium (995) Richmond, VA |
| October 1 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 1 | at Georgia Southern | W 3–1 | 10–0–0 (3–0–0) | Eagle Field (391) Statesboro, GA |
| October 7 7:15 pm, ESPN+ | No. 1 | Georgia State | W 2–0 | 11–0–0 (4–0–0) | Hoops Family Field (2,042) Huntington, WV |
| October 13 7:15 pm, ESPN+ | No. 1 | Coastal Carolina | W 6–1 | 12–0–0 (5–0–0) | Hoops Family Field (1,861) Huntington, WV |
| October 18 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 1 | at No. 5 West Virginia Mountain State Derby | L 2–5 | 12–1–0 (5–1–0) | Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium (3,147) Morgantown, WV |
| October 22 4:30 pm, ESPM+ | No. 1 | Kentucky | L 0–2 | 12–2–0 (5–2–0) | Hoops Family Field (3,099) Huntington, WV |
| October 27 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 6 | at Old Dominion | W 2–0 | 13–2–0 (6–2–0) | Old Dominion Soccer Complex (548) Norfolk, VA |
| October 31 7:15 pm, ESPN+ | No. 4 | South Carolina | W 2–0 | 14–2–0 (7–2–0) | Hoops Family Field (1,714) Huntington, WV |
| Sun Belt Tournament ||||||
| November 5 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | (1) No. 4 | (8) Old Dominion Quarterfinals | W 2–0 | 15–2–0 | Hoops Family Field (1,790) Huntington, WV |
| November 8 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | (1) No. 1 | (5) Kentucky Semifinals | W 3–0 | 16–2–0 | Hoops Family Field (2,176) Huntington, WV |
| November 12 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | (1) No. 1 | (3) No. 5 West Virginia Finals | W 3–2 | 17–2–0 | Hoops Family Field (3,151) Huntington, WV |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| November 19* 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | (1) No. 1 | Cal Baptist Second round | W 3–0 | 18–2–0 | Hoops Family Field (2,959) Huntington, WV |
| November 26* 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | (1) No. 1 | (16) No. 22 Stanford Third round | L 3–0 | 18–3–0 | Hoops Family Field (3,042) Huntington, WV |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Awards and honors

| Recipient | Award | Date |
| Matthew Bell | SBC Offensive Player of the Week | Aug. 29 |
| Marco Silva | SBC Offensive Player of the Week | Sept. 5 |
| Matthew Bell | SBC Offensive Player of the Week | Sept. 19 |
| Adam Aoumaich | SBC Offensive Player of the Week | Sept. 26 |
| Pablo Simon | SBC Offensive Player of the Week | Oct. 17 |
| Alexander Stjernegaard | SBC Offensive Player of the Week | Nov. 2 |
| Gabriel Perrotta | SBC Defensive Player of the Week | Nov. 2 |
| Matthew Bell | SBC Player of the Year | Nov. 3 |
| Matthew Bell | SBC Offensive Player of the Year | Nov. 3 |
| Morris Duggan | SBC Defensive Player of the Year | Nov. 3 |
| Gabriel Perrotta | SBC Goalkeeper Player of the Week | Nov. 3 |
| Matthew Bell | SBC First-Team All-Conference | Nov. 3 |
| Morris Duggan | SBC First-Team All-Conference | Nov. 3 |
| Gabriel Perrotta | SBC First-Team All-Conference | Nov. 3 |
| Taimu Okiyoshi | SBC Second-Team All-Conference | Nov. 3 |

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
| United Soccer | 11 | 5 | 2 | 2 (3) | 1 (7) | 1 (8) | 1 (7) | 1 (7) | 1 (8) | 6 | 4 | 1 (8) | N/A | | | |
| Top Drawer Soccer | 9 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 1 | | | |