Box Score Box Score

HUNTINGTON, WV—Marshall scored three second half goals to hand the Winthrop men's soccer team its fourth straight loss after a 4-0 defeat, Sunday afternoon in non-conference action.

It was the fourth straight game on the road for the Eagles, who will finally return home for their next game when they host East Tennessee State Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. With the loss, the Eagles are now 3-4 on the year. Marshall improved to 3-4 on the year and has won three straight.

“Certainly didn't think it was a 4-0 game,” said Winthrop head coach Rich Posipanko. “I thought we were a better team the first half. Unfortunately four mistakes led to four goals. I was pleased with our work rate and if we can take anything positive out of the game it was our hard work that had been lacking the last game or two. We had a chance to create many opportunities and were not able to take advantage of them. That's something we need to work on as well. We are also looking forward to getting home after playing four really good teams on the road.”

Marshall got on the board in the 20^th minute after withstanding some pressure from the Eagle offense and took advantage of a counter. Devin Perkins through ball freed Matt Risher down the right side of the field. Risher dribbled the ball into the box and placed a perfect pass on the foot of Tom Jackson running toward the near post and his one touch shot beat Winthrop keeper Patrick Walsh near post.

The Eagles had a couple of scoring chances in the first half, but two headers by Andres Pullin didn't have enough on them and were saved by Marshall keeper Daniel Withrow. With just under 15 minutes to go in the first half, freshman Akeem Matthews played a ball into the box that found junior Alex Mantchev, who tried to back heel a one touch shot from about 10 yards out as the defenders were closing in. The shot didn't have enough pace on it as Withrow was able to get down for the save.

The second half didn't start off as the Eagles had hoped and Marshall added to its lead with a goal in the 50^th minute by Jackson. The Thundering Herd applied pressure and served a ball into the box. The ball popped out away from net and junior Daniel Di Biagio was running toward the ball to clear it on a short hop, but the ball took a funny bounce and into his hand. That forced the referee to call a penalty kick and Jackson stepped up and drilled the shot into the left side of the goal.

Jackson finished off a hat trick in the 62^nd minute after Marshall caught the Eagle defense sleeping after a free kick was awarded just shy of midfield. The ball was quickly taken by Jahvon Allison and Jackson slipped behind the final defender and held off long enough to get a shot off and bury it into the net.

The fourth goal came in the 78^th minute off a cross and sliding finish near post by Carl Munday.

Sophomore Josh Choice had one of the best scoring chances in the game for the Eagles in the 69^th minute as he got up and headed a free kick toward the lower corner at the far post, but Withrow made one of his five saves.

Prior to that in the 64^th minute, junior Josh Mort let one go from about 40 yards that had a lot of steam on it, but it was straight down the middle of the frame and just over the crossbar. Mort collected the ball and took the shot after Matthews had ripped a shot off a clear from the Marshall defense on a corner but the Matthews shot hit Mpumelelo Matutu in the head and bounced out toward Mort. As Matutu stayed on the ground, Mort let the shot fly.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, the Eagles pushed hard to try and ruin the shutout but couldn't break through. They nearly did as Andres Pullin beat a defender with the ball on the outside and served the ball through a crowd that just couldn't find a Winthrop player until junior Matt Sluga at the far post. Sluga settled the ball and ripped a shot that was going far post and hit a Marshall defender and nearly snuck into the near post as Withrow was heading the other direction.

Winthrop finished with 13 shots and nine corners, but still didn't find the net. The Eagles have now gone 317 minutes and 38 seconds without scoring a goal.