HUNTINGTON — If Marshall soccer wants another angle on how the Herd’s new stadium will change the program’s profile, it needs only to contact a recent alumnus.

Sterling Flunder, a former MVP in Coach Bob Gray’s program, is in his fourth season with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the 13-team USL Pro league.

The Riverhounds just moved this season into the new $10 million Highmark Stadium, a 3,500-seat riverside facility with a Pittsburgh skyline view.

Flunder said it has altered the face of the franchise.

“It’s great being here, being established with this organization,” Flunder said by phone from Pittsburgh.

“This is top-level with Pittsburgh, and the team will only grow with the new stadium built for us … it’s great.

HUNTINGTON — Head coach Bob Gray has added seven student-athletes to his squad for the upcoming 2013 men’s soccer season.

Connor Allen, James Campbell, Curt Gallagher, Ben Holt, Daniel Jodah, Eric Lavery and Brady Reymond have all signed national letters of intent to join Gray’s 2013 squad.

Allen, a midfielder from Naperville, Ill., was a four-year varsity player for Naperville Central High School. He led his club team, USYS u-17, to the 2012 National Championship, Illinois State Cup Championship and a No. 1 ranking according to gotsoccer.com.

Campbell, a defender from Greenville, S.C., helped J.L. Mann High School to a 3A State Championship in 2010 and a 4A title in 2012. He was an all-state candidate in 2012 while recording 11 goals and nine assists. Campbell’s club team won numerous honors including the Disney Showcase Championship and the Region 3 Premier League Championship in 2012.

HUNTINGTON – For Dan Withrow, it’s a dream come true … but it only happened after some nightmares.

In late January, the former Marshall star goalkeeper was only the third former Thundering Herd player to be selected in a Major League Soccer draft.

But being drafted and really making it in the MLS are two very different matters.

“I tried not to think about it going through camp,” said Withrow, whose contract signing was announced Thursday by the Columbus Crew.

“It was a nervy time. I didn’t know from one day to another whether I was going to make it.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — If you weren't one of the 164.1 million to tune into Super Bowl XLVII earlier this month, know that you missed witnessing a former Marshall football player, Omar Brown, complete the rare feat of earning a championship ring in his rookie season with the Baltimore Ravens.

Brown rounds out an elite class of former Herd players who have moved on from Huntington, W.Va., to play professionally worldwide, and an even more rare group to earn a professional championship ring in the first year of “Play For Pay,” including Frank Gatski and Ed Ulinski with the Cleveland Browns (All-American Football Conference champs in 1946) and Ahmad Bradshaw (National Football League champs in 2008) with the New York Football Giants.

In the past two years, Marshall has had two football players, four men's basketball players and 10 baseball players signed to play with professional organizations around the globe.

Looking to add to the mix in men's soccer is Daniel Withrow, the 2012 Co-Conference USA Player of the Year.

 

HUNTINGTON — Marshall goalkeeper Daniel Withrow has been selected in the second round (28th selection today/66th overall) of the Major League Soccer (MLS) Supplemental Draft by the Columbus Crew.
 
He becomes the third Marshall player to be drafted into the league. 
 
“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” said Withrow on Tuesday.
 
“I was driving home, about in Columbus, when I got the call saying, ‘You’ve been drafted,’ from the Marshall coaches, so I had to turn around, and head back to Huntington to get the details.”
 
Withrow was headed back home on Tuesday when he called into the Insider Sportsline on SuperTalk 94.1 FM and AM 930, saying he was to report to Columbus this weekend and then head with the Crew to Florida next week for his first professional camp.
 
In Marshall soccer history, only Jeremy Ashe and Byron Carmichael were ever selected by the MLS.

 

HUNTINGTON – The dirt moving and concrete pouring at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 26th Street is all about what Marshall soccer coaches hope the Herd displays at that site starting in August.
 
It’s about teamwork, about hustle.
 
Marshall is building a $6 million soccer complex that will be one of the nation’s finest for the sport, say officials of AECOM, the architecture and engineering firm known nationally for its design of sports facilities.
 
While AECOM (and its arm formerly known as Ellerbe Beckett) has designed plenty of striking NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA arenas and many college athletics venues, there is something singular about the Marshall project, which also includes a $14 million Indoor Athletics Facility — funded by the ongoing Vision Campaign.
 
The dedication of the facility — the Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex — to those who served their nation is one of the special features. 

 

HUNTINGTON — Daniel Withrow of the Marshall University men's soccer team has been named to the 2012 NCAA Div. I All-Midwest Region First Team, landing the lone goalkeeper spot on the 11 man list.
 
The senior from Rochester Hills, Mich., started all 17 games in goal for the Thundering Herd this season, recording 77 saves and setting a new Marshall single season record with 9.5 shutouts. 
 
His recognition on the regional team comes just a few weeks after being named Co-Conference USA Player of the Year for the first time in Marshall men's soccer history, and First Team All-Conference USA for the third time in his illustrious career. 
HURRICANE, W.Va. — A first half goal from freshman Matt Freeman and a Tom Jackson penalty kick in the game's final minutes gave the Marshall University men's soccer team a 2-0 Conference USA win over FIU.
With the win Marshall improves to 11-3-1, 3-3 in C-USA and picks up 3 vital points for its postseason push, not to mention breaking a seasons-worst two-game losing streak.
Marshall now has nine points and a fifth place spot in the league standings, important since just six teams head to the C-USA Tournament.
For FIU (7-6-2, 0-5-1), it means the Panthers remain at the bottom of the conference having picked up just one point in six matches this season.
HURRICANE, W.Va. — The Marshall University men's soccer team lost its first home match of the 2012 season on Wednesday night, falling 1-0 to the visiting University of Kentucky Wildcats in a Conference USA showdown at Hurricane High in Putnam County, about 30 minutes from Huntngton.

The Herd had previously tied the record of 9-0 at home to start the season before falling to the Wildcats, an associate member of Conference USA for men’s soccer only (along with South Carolina and FIU, who will leave the Sun Belt for C-USA next season).

The Wildcats' Dylan Asher finished-off a Matt Lodge through-ball in the 55th minute of play for the game's only goal as Kentucky sent the Thundering Herd to its second C-USA defeat of the year.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The Marshall University men's soccer team defeated Evansville 2-0 Saturday night, courtesy of goals by senior Tom Jackson and freshman Andrew Ferguson. 

 

The win moves the Herd to 9-1-1, surpassing last season's entire win total (8 wins) and making the Herd undefeated in non-conference play for the 2012 season. 

 

Senior goalkeeper Daniel Withrow set a new Marshall single-season shutout record with 8.5 this year, surpassing  former Herd and professional goal keeper Taly Goode's 7.5 mark.

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