HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall senior Morris Duggan and sophomore Matthew Bell have been selected for the 2023 Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference Team, according to an announcement from the league office on Monday.
The Herd men’s soccer team was designated to finish second in the pre-season poll of the conference, garnering two first-place votes and trailing pre-season favorites Kentucky by a margin of two points.
“Pre-season polls are always interesting,” commented Marshall men’s soccer head coach Chris Grassie. “We have work to do to continue to improve, but as always, our goal is to win the conference. We want to play better in each match, growing our effort and performance from match to match. I don’t put too much stock in pre-season polls, but it gives us good motivation to finish higher than we were selected, and for our guys to let their football do the talking over the season to be among the awards and trophies at the end of the season. We certainly have a team capable of winning things this year, and individuals capable of having seasons which get them on the All-America teams.”
Matthew Bell, the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, secured a spot on the first-team all-conference lineup last season. Hailing from Kingston, Jamaica, Bell featured in all 19 of the Herd’s matches as a starter. He tallied an impressive 10 goals, finishing tied for second in the SBC, with a conference-high 25 shots on goal. Bell accumulated 24 points, the second-highest count in the Sun Belt.
In his first season in Huntington, Morris Duggan started in all 19 of the Herd’s matches. Over 1,558 minutes of play, he managed one goal on 11 shots, including three shots on goal. Duggan’s goal was registered against Georgia Southern on October 23. He played a pivotal role in stabilizing the defensive backline, contributing to a team effort that yielded only 14 goals in 19 games, including six shutouts.
Image Credit: Marshall Athletics
