Tarik Pannholzer scored in the opening minutes, Aleksa Janjic finished with five saves and an assist, and Marshall beat No. 1 seed Ohio State 1-0 on Friday night in the semifinals of the College Cup.
No. 13 seed Marshall (15-1-7) will play unseeded Vermont — which beat Denver on penalty kicks in the other semifinal — in the championship game Monday (8 p.m., ESPN2/ESPN+).
Pannholzer slipped behind the defense on the counterattack and ran onto a long goal kick played by Janjic. Ohio State goalkeeper Max Trejo came off his line and collided with teammate Siggi Magnusson at the edge of the penalty area, and Pannholzer walked it into the goal for a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.
Ohio State (16-2-4) had a great chance in the opening minutes, with David Ajagbe’s header off a corner kick ricocheting off the crossbar.
Marshall has made six consecutive NCAA tournaments, winning the national championship in 2020.
Marshall’s Takahiro Fujita was taken off the field on a stretcher in the second half and was replaced by Aleksandar Vukovic. Ohio State’s Donovan Williams came off with an apparent leg injury about five minutes into the game and was replaced by Nick McHenry.
The Buckeyes were without Nathan Demian, who was hit by an errant bullet from an off-campus shooting early Sunday morning in Columbus, Ohio, just hours after helping the Buckeyes to a 3-0 win over Wake Forest in the quarterfinals. He remains hospitalized and cheered the team on from there Friday night.
Vermont 1, Denver 1
Max Murray scored the decisive goal in a 4-3 shootout after Vermont and Denver played to a 1-1 draw through extra time, and the Catamounts beat the No. 3 seed Pioneers to advance to their first men’s College Cup final in program history.
Vermont (16-2-5), making its first appearance in the College Cup, became just the third team in the past decade to beat two top-four seeds in one tournament after also taking down No. 2 Pittsburgh last weekend. The Catamounts have won 10 NCAA tournament games over the past three years, the most of any program in the NCAA.
Denver (15-4-4) was making its second appearance in the national semifinals, with the previous coming in a 2016 loss to Wake Forest in extra time.
Vermont goalkeeper Niklas Herceg blocked Ben Smith’s shot down the middle with his trail leg, and Murray answered with his goal for a 3-2 lead in the shootout. Denver defender Trevor Wright had a left-footed shot glance off the crossbar to send Vermont into the championship match.
Both teams entered having not allowed a goal during the tournament, and neither allowed one in the opening half.
Denver attacking midfielder Sam Bassett scored from distance in the 69th minute for his ninth goal of the season. Teammate Ian Smith saved the ball from going out of bounds on the end line and passed it back to Bassett near the corner of the 18-yard box. Bassett calmly chipped it over Herceg and into the opposite side netting.
Yaniv Bazini tied it at 1 in the 84th minute with his 14th goal of the season. He got behind the defense, chested down a lofted pass from Nathan Siméon and calmly bounced it into the back of the net.
It was Vermont’s 16th goal this season coming in the 83rd minute or later.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
