CARY, N.C. — Marshall men’s soccer coach Chris Grassie found the silver lining on Monday.
Moments after the Thundering Herd lost 2-1 to Vermont in the NCAA College Cup final at WakeMed Soccer Park, Grassie sat at the news conference for the runner-up and talked about a successful 2024 season.
“This will just hurt for a little while and, hopefully, when that pain fades, we can kind of fall back on the bond that we’ve had and the story that we’ve told on this journey,” the eighth-year coach said. “You know, 90 minutes away from a national championship is not bad for a season. So, at some point that will start to feel better.”
The Marshall players who joined Grassie at the table said they saw brighter days ahead too. Rai Pinto, a sophomore from Portugal who was credited with an assist on the Herd’s lone goal Monday, said the Herd won’t go away.
“We are Marshall,” Pinto said. “We want to win, and I will say 100% sure we are going to work next season to be here again, and I believe we can be here again, and we can win this game.”
Recent history backs Pinto’s statement.
Since the Herd defeated Indiana to win the 2020 cup, also in Cary, Marshall has returned each year to the NCAA field.
The 2024 tournament was the sixth straight for MU, which was the No. 1 overall seed in 2023 and has reached the third round five times.
Following the elimination of Marshall from the 2023 tournament in the third round to Stanford, transfers arrived in Huntington to help the Herd get back to the title game.
Tarik Pannholzer, who played at East Tennessee State before arriving at Marshall, scored the Herd’s goal on Monday.
Ryan Holmes, a junior from Ona, said the Herd had to figure out its chemistry once the transfers arrived, but that Marshall bonded over the course of the season.
“We lost one game all the way back in August,” Grassie said. “I didn’t know we’d be as good as we were until later in the season. The belief kind of grew from there.”
Marshall has become a fixture in the tournament and a consistent contender for the championship.
Cary, which is the host city for the next three College Cups, could become a home away from home for the Herd.
Rick Elmore covers sports. He can be reached at 304-348-5122 or relmore@hdmediallc.com. Follow @ElmoreSports on Twitter/X.
