Men's Soccer Opens Sun Belt Tournament Play At #4 Marshall Sunday

MATCH #17
WHO: ODU (5-6-5) at #4 Marshall (14-2)
WHERE: Huntington, W. Va.
WHEN: 3 p.m. – Sunday
SERIES RECORD: Marshall leads 6-5-1
LAST MATCHUP: Oct. 27, 2023 – Marshall 2, ODU 0
STREAM:  ESPN+
LIVE STATS:  here
 
NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men's soccer team will start Sun Belt Conference Tournament play in Huntington, West Virginia on Sunday afternoon against top-seeded Marshall at 3 p.m.
 
The other half of the bracket at Marshall will see fourth-seeded James Madison take on fifth-seeded Kentucky at 7 p.m. The Sunday winners will play Wednesday night at 7 p.m. for the right to advance to the title game on November 12.
 
ODU (5-6-5, 2-5-1) played seventh-ranked West Virginia tough and got an equalizer off a penalty kick by Karan Mandair with just over five minutes left. The hosts were awarded a penalty kick with 34 seconds left and converted as WVU defeated ODU 2-1 on October 31.
 
Marshall (14-2, 7-2) defeated South Carolina 2-0 on Tuesday night at home. Matthew Bell was named Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Year with eight goals and 10 assists for 26 points which ranks third in the nation. The Herd used a pair of second half goals to defeat ODU 2-0 on October 27 in Norfolk.
 
ABOUT ODU
Jonas Schmalbach leads the team in scoring with five goals and one assist for 11 points. Mandair also has five goals for 10 points, while William Arnesen has three goals and two assists for eight points. Michael Eberle has three goals and one assist for seven points.
Michael Statham has four shutouts now and is third in the Sun Belt with 59 saves.

Mandair set a school single-season penalty kicks record with his fifth on Tuesday at West Virginia. He was tied with Ryan Condotta from 2015 for most penalty kicks made in a season.
 
ABOUT MARSHALL
Marshall swept the Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards with Bell winning Offensive and Morris Duggan taking the Defensive award.
 
Goalkeeper Gabriel Perotta has 8.5 shutouts and won the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week award to close the regular season.
 
UP NEXT
A spot in Wednesday's semifinals awaits the winner of this match.