9-1-2024
The Marshall Women’s Soccer team faced off against Belmont University at Hoops Family Field on Sunday afternoon, and a long game of astonishing defense resulted in a thrilling 1-0 victory for the Thundering Herd. The Marshall Women’s team came in with a 0-2-1 record, dropping their last two games against Harvard and Dartmouth. While Belmont drove into Huntington posting a 1-3 record, also coming off a two-game losing streak.
Both teams played a very even match, as they had an equal amount of shots-on-goal with five for both squads, and Marshall only outnumbered Belmont in the total shots category by one with a total of ten shots to nine. The one main statistic gap of the game being Belmont’s struggles to stay onsides, as they had a staggering four offsides called against Marshall’s one.
The Herd put on a defensive masterpiece tonight, as Marshall goalie Alexis Wolgemuth had five saves on her way to keeping a clean sheet against the Bruins. This was Wolgemuth’s sixth career clean sheet, bumping her up to a tie for fifth in most total shutouts among goalkeepers in Marshall Women’s Soccer history.
The Thundering Herd attack also struggled to get the ball in the net, as Belmont goalie Sydney Jones had four saves and kept the game scoreless until the 87th minute when Marshall junior Madison Townes hit a beautiful pass to fellow junior Angel Fowler, who buried a shot into the top corner of Belmont’s goal.
The Bruins could not find a way to get a shot on net within the remaining three minutes of play, allowing the Herd to hold on and claim their first win of the 2024 campaign.
This win comes as a special one too, as this is head coach Rafa Simoes’ first win after taking the reins of the Marshall Women’s Soccer program in December of 2023.
“We know Huntington that if you win, they’re going to embrace it…” Coach Rimoes said, “really grateful for the community we have here.”
The Marshall women will attempt to string together a couple of wins tonight, as they head up to Chessa Field at Ohio University for a battle against the Bobcats starting at 4 p.m.