They knocked out No. 1 overall seed Clemson; they knocked out the defending champion Georgetown; they knocked out two-time national champion North Carolina. The only thing left to do was defeat eight-time champion Indiana and Marshall — a program that’d never advanced beyond the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament quarterfinals before this year — would claim the College Cup.
With the university situated less than a six-hour drive away in Huntington, West Virginia, Thundering Herd fans showed up en masse in Cary, North Carolina, with hopes of witnessing the dream ending to the their school’s improbable run, but the Hoosiers had dreams of their own.
Herbert Enderley is a force, and I look forward to watching him play for Minnesota United soon.
pressure pressure @IndianaMSOC testing Marshall early!#CollegeCup pic.twitter.com/82ioRIHhEx
— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) May 18, 2021
Daniel Munie managed to screw this one wide, but the mistiming of events — and vertical leaps — accounts for the vast majority of how our lives play out. That’s just the way it is.
So close for Daniel Munie #CollegeCup pic.twitter.com/l6HBQUzf1i
— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) May 18, 2021
The Herd began to exert more influence in the second half — just look at this dummy from Vinicius Fernandes; Luka Modrić is loving that.
Vinicius Fernandes with a fantastic go.
Still scoreless.#CollegeCup pic.twitter.com/mMK02VDYdM— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) May 18, 2021
But still we couldn’t find the deciding goal and went to overtime. Then, with less than three minutes to play in the first session, Jamil Roberts — who’s been beyond clutch in Marshall’s run — showed up again to convert the national title-winning goal.
THE GOLDEN GOAL FOR JAMIL ROBERTS! ✨⚽️
What a way for @HerdMSoccer to secure their first @NCAASoccer National Championship!#TheCUSAWay pic.twitter.com/3moQxlC2M1— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) May 18, 2021
Marshall built some beautifully intricate attacks, refused to "GET RID!" at the back like the majority of schools and is everything we want from a NCAA champion.
