WVU Beats Marshall to Claim Sun Belt Championship

In a rematch from two weeks ago, the WVU men’s soccer team topped Marshall 0-0 in penalty kicks to claim the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Championship Sunday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Socer Staium in Morgantown.

Just like two weeks ago in Huntington, the two top-10 teams battled to a scoreless draw in regulation. The previous draw awarded WVU the Sun Belt regular season title, but there would be no ties in Sunday’s championship match.

Both overtime periods also passed without a goal being scored, sending the game into the shootout. Each team’s first five shooters found the back of the net. In the sixth round of penalty kicks, WVU’s Dyon Dromers scored in the bottom right of the net to put the pressure on the Thundering Herd to score or go home.

Marshall’s Joao Roberto attempted to go right as well, but West Virginia keeper Marc Bonnaire got his hands on the ball while diving to his left to deflect the shot away from the goal and give the Mountaineers their Sun Belt trophy in front of a sellout crowd of 3,162.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP MOMENT!!#HailWV pic.twitter.com/QjOKtK8wpB

— WVU Men’s Soccer (@WVUMensSoccer) November 17, 2024

WVU’s shootout scorers were Sergio Ours Navarro, Carlos Hernando, Marcus Caldeira, Dante Huckaby, Frederik Jorgensen and Dromers.

The Mountaineers out-shot Marshall 16-6 in the game with a 6-1 edge in shots on goal. Bonnaire needed to make just one save across regulation and both overtime periods.

WVU and Marshall will both advance to the NCAA tournament, the first round of which will start on Thursday, Nov. 21.

West Virginia will learn its exact seed and first opponent during the NCAA men’s soccer selection show on Monday at 1 p.m. WVU will likely be seeded high enough to host multiple rounds of the tournament.

In 2023, WVU advanced all the way to the College Cup as one of the final four remaining teams in the country. West Virginia’s historic 2023 season came to an end with a 1-0 loss to Clemson in the College Cup national semifinal.