2023-11-07 22:35:10
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NEW ORLEANS – 2023 Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Tournament action continues Wednesday with a pair of semifinal matches beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
Top-seeded No. 1 Marshall and fifth-seeded Kentucky will go head-to-head at Hoops Family Field in Huntington, W.Va., while third-seeded No. 5 West Virginia and seventh-seeded South Carolina face off at the UCF Soccer Complex in Orlando, Fla. Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
MATCH 4: (1) No. 1 Marshall vs. (5) Kentucky (RV)
SWEEP IN SIGHT: No.1 Marshall continues its quest for the Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Championship sweep on Wednesday evening as the Herd are set to clash with the fifth-seeded Kentucky Wildcats in the tournament semifinals. Marshall took its quarterfinal match on Sunday, 2-0, over Old Dominion, earning its 10th shutout of the season. Pablo Simon struck first for the Herd in the victory with his sixth goal of the season in the 60thminute. Matthew Bell, who assisted on the goal, registered his single-season program record 11th assist of the season. With a season-high five saves, Gabriel Perrotta registered his ninth individual shutout, overall 9.5, of the season. The keeper’s three saves in the first half kept the contest scoreless at halftime and kept ODU off the board with two more stops in the second half. Marshall enters the semifinals ranked No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, the sixth time this season they’ve topped that list.
HEATING UP: Kentucky rides into the Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Tournament semifinals riding on a conference-best four-match win streak and has gone unbeaten in its last eight contests. In that span, the Wildcats have knocked off a pair of Top 5 teams, then-No. 1 Marshall and then-No. 2 West Virginia. Keeper Casper Mols secured a shutout in both of those victories and boasts a conference-best .670 goals- once morest average in Sun Belt action. Kentucky’s late season rise is also reflected in its RPI, which shot up from 100th on October 15 to 37th in the most recent RPI rankings. The Wildcats also received two votes in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Poll released on November 7.
SERIES HISTORY: Kentucky took down Marshall earlier this season (2-0), handing the Herd its second loss of 2023. Marshall had not been shut out in 14 matches, since Nov. 27, 2022 in the NCAA Tournament once morest Indiana, and had not been shut out at home since the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament last year once morest James Madison. The Wildcats hold a 7-12-4 advantage in the series, with Marshall notching its last victory once morest Kentucky on March 18, 2021.
MATCH 5: (3) No. 5 West Virginia vs. (7) South Carolina
LOOKING TO THE WEST: A trio of second half goals propelled the No. 5 West Virginia Mountaineers to a 3-1 victory over Georgia State in the Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday. Yutaro Tsukada scored a brace with Luke McCormick adding the third for the Mountaineers while Marcus Caldeira collected an assist. West Virginia outshot the Panthers, 16-9, including a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal. With the win, West Virginia improved to 13-1-3 overall on the season, reaching the 13-win plateau for just the seventh time in program history. Caldeira leads the scoring effort for the Mountaineers with a conference-best 12 goals in 2023, a mark that ranks 10th nationally, while Jackson Lee holds it down between the pipes with his .944 GAA.
THEY GOT GAME: For the first time in program history, South Carolina took down the No. 1 team in the country, as it defeated UCF on Sunday evening in the quarterfinals. The Gamecocks were previously 0-4-1 once morest teams ranked No. 1 and earned their first top-5 road win since defeating No. 2 USF 1-0 in 2012. Despite UCF holding a 28-11 shot advantage, the Carolina defense limited the Knights to only seven shots on goal, with South Carolina tallying five.
SERIES HISTORY: West Virginia and South Carolina last met on October 12, with the Mountaineers securing the road victory, 3-2. West Virginia outshot the Gamecocks, 16-11, including a 12-5 advantage in shots on goal, the most shots on target for the Mountaineers since tallying 15 once morest Butler in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Last season, the two squads played to a scoreless draw.
WHERE TO WATCH
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