— By David Walsh
Both coaches admit they’ll have their hands full Friday night when top seed Ohio State and No. 13 seed Marshall meet in the semifinal round in the College Cup Final Four at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.
The Buckeyes, 16-1-4, come in ranked No. 1 and seeded No. 1 in the 48-team field. The Thundering Herd, 14-1-7, comes in at No. 8 and the 13th seed.
Vermont and No. 3 seed Denver clash in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. The Herd and Buckeyes follow at about 7:30. Both matches will be on ESPNU. Winners return Monday for the title game at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
“Man are they good on both sides of the ball,” Ohio State coach Brian Maisoneuve said during a College Cup call with the Big Ten and media. “They provide so many challenges offensively and defensively. Individually they have some fantastic players It’s going to be a challenge. They’re a possession team, but they have the talent to hit you direct and if you don’t defend. Yet from an attacking standpoint, they have a lot of weapons, a lot of ways to hurt you. We’ve got quite a few questions to answer.”
The two teams are familiar with each other since they meet in College Spring League contests.
Each team has scored nine goals in the NCAA Tournament’s first three rounds
“They’re tough,” Marshall coach Chris Grassie said. “They’re having a great season. They’re well organized and really disciplined. They have some exceptional attack players as we do. We’ll see what it comes down to.”
It’s been a long time since either team has lost a match. Marshall’s lone setback occurred Aug. 29 at Xavier, 2-0. UCLA handed Ohio State its defeat, 2-1, Oct. 11 in Los Angeles.
“It’s been a good season so far,” Grassie said. “We really didn’t hit our stride until the end of the season. Against N.C. State everybody was fit, ready. We hit our stride at the right time of the season. We had newcomers and it took a while to integrate them into our system. They’re an amazing group. The culture’s really good. We’re used to being a dominant possession team, but the last two (matches) we got up and were on the other side of the game. They’ve shown resilience and handled it. One of the amazing things I know is we’re going to score. Don’t know if I’ve had a team like it.”
“It’s been an unbelievable season,” Maisonneuve said. “I’ve said all year long this is a really special group. They’ve come together. Good season, good tournament. They’ve performed. This team has good leadership. It’s been quite a run. I’m really excited about the weekend.”
Each team has its share of weapons. And a major threat. The Herd’s Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos, transfer from Memphis, has 35 points to rank second all-time in program history. He has 15 goals, tying him with Byron Carmichael for second most in program history.
Ohio State’s major threat is Michael Adedokun who has 33 points on 11 goals/11 assists. The assist total is No. 2 in program history as are the 11 goals.
“A quality kid,” Maisonneuve said. “Look at the individual ability on the attack side. The focus, how he brings others into the game. He also defends well. The amount of ground he covers.”
Grassie is in College Cup for the second time. On his first visit in the spring of 2021, the Herd won the (2020) national title with a 1-0 overtime win over Indiana. That whole tournament was played in North Carolina due to the Covid 19 pandemic and restrictions. Teams stayed a tournament sites until they lost. He made three trips to the NCAA Division II Final Four while at the University of Charleston. The reason for the continued success is simple.
“I try to have good people. I try to play good football,” Grassie said.
Grassie said the makeup of the 2020 champs and this team is different.
“It’s a unique journey for every team,” he said. “A different set of individual characters. The game’s evolved so much. The problems teams can cause now. Both were great groups, just a little different. This team now is vertical a little faster. That one was sort of free to play. This one’s more tactically organized and penetrates quicker.”
Maisonneuve said the climb by the Buckeyes has been steady over his seven seasons. The 3-0 win over Wake Forest in the Elite Eight was the 50th of his career.
“It’s been a fun seven years,” he said. “We had room to grow. I knew what we could build. We’ve got the resources, second to none.”
One player Ohio State won’t have on this trip, but will be thinking about, is defender Nathan Demian. He was the victim of an off-campus shooting Sunday at 2:30 a.m. in Columbus. Two vehicles were chasing each other with a person in one vehicle shooting toward the other. Demiam, a bystander, suffered gunshot wounds and taken to a hospital in serious condition. He had helped the Buckeyes blank Wake Forest that Saturday.
“A tough situation,” Maisonneuve said. “The team’s come together as a group. They lean heavily on each other. It has an impact on preparation, but the guys will get through it. He’s an incredible teammate, person and fantastic player. His play speaks for itself. It’s tough not to have him out there. We’ll miss him on the field.”
Ohio State is the first team to end the season ranked No. 1 after being unranked in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll since Wake Forest in 2015. New Mexico was unranked entering the 2011 season before climbing to No. 1 going into the NCAA Tournament. To this point, the Buckeyes have played 10 teams that made the NCAA Tournament and the record is 8-1-2. Nine players on the roster have played in 50 or more matches over their career.
The 16 wins this season are the second-most in program history. The 2007 team finished 17-4-5 after making it to the College Cup finals. The program’s current winning percentage (.857) is the highest in program history. The 51 goals to date is tops all-time, passing the 47 scored in 1983. Ohio State has improved its win total by 10 games over 2023 (6-6-6). That’s the best victory movement in consecutive seasons (2 wins in 1973 to 11 in 1974).
In goal, Buckeyes keeper Max Trejo is 10-0-2 and 0.49 goals against average, a program record. He’s allowed just six goals. His counterpart for Marshall Aleksa Janjic, who split time with Dan Rose, earlier in the season, is 11-0-3 with seven clean sheets and 0.70 goals against.
