2024 Varsity Boys Soccer
Team News
Game Summaries (0)
No team summary for this season.
News (3)
Marshall Boys Varsity Soccer Remains Undefeated in the 1-8
Posted on 09/20/2024
The Marshall Boys Soccer team traveled to Hastings yesterday for an I-8 Conference matchup. Marshall prevailed by a 3-2 score to move to 3-0-0 in league play and remain in position to challenge for a league title.
Marshall played well and, despite a few quality scoring chances, was unable to find the net in the opening half. The teams went to halftime tied at 0-0.
After the scoreless first half, the second half was an offensive explosion. Marshall played some of their best soccer of the year in the second half putting together some very fluent attacking combinations. The improved play paid off when Carson Clapper won a ball in the Marshall defensive half and played a square pass to Jaxon Weitting. Weitting maneuvered around two Hastings defenders to get space out wide and delivered a ball up the wing and behind the Hastings defense to Ronnie Gill. Gill collected the ball, cut inside the Hastings centerback and wrong-footed the keeper to score near post, giving Marshall a 1-0 lead. Gill made the score 2-0 in Marshall's favor when he finished off a great sequence of attacking soccer. Rowdy Joseph carried the ball deep into the Hastings defensive end before stopping and switching the point of attack to a streaking, wide open, Carson Clapper. Clapper served a beautiful cross over the head of the advancing keeper and GIll was there to guide the ball into the open net.
Against the run of play, Hastings tightened the scoreline with a goal from a deflected shot in a goal-mouth scrum. Marshall answered with another high-quality piece of attacking soccer to regain a 3-1 lead. Rowdy Joseph again got things started from the top of the box. He played a penetrating ball to the endline for Parker Swan. Swan cut the ball back to beat his defender and slotted a perfectly timed ball across the goalmouth for the onrushing Jaxon Weitting to tap into the empty net to restore Marshall's 2 goal lead. If the 1st goal for Hastings was against the run of play, the 2nd was downright unlucky as a Marshall defender got to a ball with a little time and his clearance bounced off of a Hastings player and over the head of the goalkeeper into the net to make the score 3-2. Although the goal was flukey and the Hastings team was fired up, Marshall safely saw out the remainder of the game and walked away 3-2 winners.
With the win, Marshall improves to 6-5-1 overall on the year and 3-0-0 in I-8 Conference play to keep alive their hopes for a conference title.
Marshall returns to action when they host Plainwell at Marshall HS on Saturday, 9/21, with kickoff scheduled for 1pm.
Marshall Boys Varsity Soccer Maintains Perfect Start to I-8 League Season
Posted on 09/20/2024
The Marshall Boys Soccer Team hosted Jackson Northwest (NW) in an I-8 Conference Match-up Tuesday evening at Marshall High School. Marshall came away 2-0 winners to maintain a perfect start to the league season.
Marshall struck early with 2 goals in the opening 10 minutes. Inside of a minute, Ivan Egnatuk won a tackle deep inside the NW half. The ball squirted to Ronnie Gill at the top of the box. Gill wiggled through 2 NW defenders and laid an inviting ball off to Rowdy Joseph about 15 yards from goal. Joseph gladly accepted the invite and steered the ball into the back of the net to give Marshall an early 1-0 lead. Marshall built upon that lead when Ben Baker connected a pass to Joseph near the top of the NW box. Joseph scooped a ball over the NW backline and into the path of the on-rushing Ivan Egnatuk. Egnatuk lunged to meet the ball in the air and successfully connected with the ball, guiding the ball into the net to give Marshall a 2-0 lead that would become the final score.
After taking the early lead, Marshall didn't play its best soccer for much of the match, but maintained some defensive responsibility and earned a shutout. John Meyer went the distance in goal to claim the shutout, his 2nd complete game shutout of the year.
With the win, Marshall moves to 5-5-1 on the season and 2-0-0 in I-8 Conference Play.
Marshall Boys Varsity Soccer Victorious over Parma Western in First Conference Game of the Year
Posted on 09/12/2024
Marshall traveled to Parma this evening for the opening I-8 Conference match of the year and came away with a hard fought, but well deserved, 2-1 victory.
After finishing the weekend with a tie against Mason (ranked #7 in D2 in the state of Michigan), Marshall was hoping to really build some momentum. Early in the match, Marshall may have been a little too amped up. Despite the beginnings of some very promising plays, Marshall was plagued by poor unforced turnovers and blown defensive assignments. One of those turnovers resulted in the opening goal. After a Marshall turnover, the Western forward unleashed a 25 yard thunderbolt that left Marshall goalkeeper, John Meyer, with no chance. So, early in the match, Marshall was 1-0 down even though the goal was very much against the run of play. The goal seemed to help Marshall settle in though as the rest of the half featured much sharper play from the Redhawks. They created numerous opportunities and were denied what looked to be a clear penalty kick. Late in the half, Ben Baker played a long ball over the top of the Western defense. Rowdy Joseph timed his run perfectly and was in behind the Western defense. The Western goalkeeper came out of the goal to close down the angle and Joseph calmly rounded him on the dribble and slotted the ball into the open net. With 17 seconds left in the 1st half, the score was tied at 1-1 and stayed that way into halftime.In the 2nd half, Marshall continued to have the better of play although they weren't creating as many chances as in the first half. Midway through the half, Carson Clapper, who's clever dribbling had been a thorn in the Western defense's side all night, tricked another defender and was taken down in the box. This time the ref did make the call and Marshall had a penalty kick. Senior Ben Baker stepped up to take the kick. The keeper made a terrific save on the attempt, but Baker was able to deposit the rebound into the goal to give Marshall the lead. Marshall defended stoutly to finish out the game and earn the victory.The win makes Marshall 1-0-0 in I-8 Conference play and 3-4-1 overall. Marshall is competing in the Battle Creek Lakeview Invitational this Saturday with their 1st game against Battle Creek Central at 10:45am at Battle Creek Lakeview. Following the tournament, Marshall returns to I=8 Conference action next week with games against Jackson Northwest and Hastings.