CARY, N.C. — 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 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.
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.
