The next chapter of Cleveland State men’s soccer’s historic season will play out in the NCAA Tournament, on Thursday evening at Marshall.
The newly-crowned Horizon League tournament champions learned of their pending trip to Huntington, WV on Monday afternoon, during the NCAA’s selection show.
The Thundering Herd has become a men’s soccer powerhouse in recent years, including a national championship in 2020. Head coach Chris Grassie’s program just missed adding a second last season, falling to Vermont in overtime of the championship game. In all, Marshall has qualified for the last seven NCAA Tournaments, including five Round of 16 trips.
They’re also a well-known program in Northeast Ohio, including 11 all-time meetings with CSU, eight of those won by Marshall. The most recent of those contests took place on September 12, 2023 when the Vikings – fresh off their last HL title, in 2022 – ate a 5-0 defeat in Huntington’s Hoops Family Field. Cleveland State’s last victory in the series came in 2013.
“With us drawing Marshall, [they’re a] good team, they’ve had great success in the past and even in recent history as well,” head coach Sinisa Ubiparipovic said. “So again, good team. We know we’re going to be up against a tough opponent and we’ve just got to be prepared to play the best we can.”
Should the Vikings upset the Thundering Herd, they would immediately head down to NC State, the tournament’s 15th overall seed, for the second round on Sunday. Virginia, UNC Greensboro, and Elon are the possible opponents after the Wolfpack, should the Vikings launch a Mackian run and become one of NCAA Division I’s last 16 teams standing.
“We knew the teams here were going to be best of the best,” HL championship game hero Matteo Correia said. “So, I mean, I think going in it, we’re going to have the same mentality we always have. Just do what we do, keep the same momentum going. We just won this championship with the Horizon League, so I think we got a chip on our shoulder going at these guys. I think it’ll be good for us.”
A pair of 2025 CSU opponents were also selected to the 48-team field, including perennial contender Akron, which earned the 14th overall seed, and Grand Canyon. The Vikings suffered a 3-1 loss to GCU in Arizona back on August 25th, then fell 1-0 at UA a week later.
Since then, of course, Ubiparipovic’s squad caught fire, running off a 12-game unbeaten streak immediately following the loss to the Zips. That run more or less secured the Horizon League’s regular season title, and the Vikings added the tournament championship by getting through Robert Morris and Purdue Fort Wayne at Krenzler Field last week.
The match against Marshall will kick off at 7:15 PM and be broadcast on ESPN+.
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