Photo by Samantha Davis. Marshall sophomore defender Isaiah MacMurchy dribbles the ball up the field against Breck on Saturday in the Tigers' home opener. Marshall fell 4-0.

MARSHALL — The Marshall boys soccer team is on a quest to make another deep playoff run for the second straight year, as it opened the 2025 season over the weekend. Although the Tigers’ defensive talent was evident early on, they fell to Breck 4-0 Saturday afternoon in its home opener and a non-conference matchup.

“I thought we did some things well. We started off pretty intense, and we pressured for as long as we could,” Marshall head coach Tony Correa said. “I think that was our weakness today, is that a couple guys just didn’t sacrifice enough on the pressuring. The goals are going to come from both sides, because we had chances, we didn’t finish. The chances they [Breck] had, they finished.”

Marshall’s defense held off Breck for a majority of the first half, but the Mustangs began to find an answer toward the end. The Tigers allowed two goals in the final minutes of the first half, and ultimately weren’t able to recover from its early deficit, as Breck continued to chip away in the second.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jameson Cornell was in the net for Marshall.

Marshall is coming off a very successful 2024 campaign, going 14-3-2 overall with a Big South Conference championship title and a run to the Section 2AA championship, one win away from a state tournament berth.

“Some goals [this season] are to just really build our foundation as a team and just keep passing to each other and trusting everyone,” Correa said. “Obviously, I want to make a playoff run. We’re looking for a conference title, and just to compete against hard teams like this team.”

The Tigers graduated a group of 11 seniors and will look to adjust to new roles this year, but Marshall still returns a large group from a year prior along with a balanced mix of upper and underclassmen. Marshall holds eight seniors, along with eight sophomores this season.

“It feels great [to be back on the field]. We have a young core,” Correa said. “The leadership has been great. It’s just trying to get everyone on the same page, and making sure that we keep moving the ball right.”

The beginning of Saturday’s game was back-and-forth between the two teams, but Breck was able to start gaining control and kept the ball in Marshall’s scoring territory later in the half, and for a majority of the time in the second.

Although allowing four goals on the day, Marshall’s defensive potential shined with several shot blocks before it reached Cornell in the net, to prevent Beck from deepening its lead, and continued to interrupt the Mustangs’ offense.

“They [defenders] are exquisite. It’s going to be hard to get past us when it comes down to the defense,” Correa said. “There’s just going to be mistakes that we’re not used to yet. The mistakes are gonna happen. But, like I said, it’s just a matter of how are we reacting, and how can we plan for them.”

To begin the game, Beck nearly had a close shot three minutes into the match but was blocked by the defensive line. The same happened later in the half on a Mustangs’ free kick following a Marshall foul, but sophomore defender Tony Umanzor bolted in from the right side of the field to hit away the ball just before reaching the net.

The Tigers’ offense also had a handful of good looks throughout the game, including freshman Adrian Perez and sophomore Taw Taw Lo bringing the ball up midway through the first half passing to one another, but just slightly overshot the ball in the end.

Senior Isaiah Argueta also had a shot-on-goal attempt with 10 minutes to go in the half.

In the 32nd minute, Breck got its first goal of the day off a corner kick, which was initially batted away by Cornell, but the Mustangs immediately followed it up and sent the ball to the net.

Just three minutes later with the first half winding down, Beck added on another goal after sprinting down into the attacking third. Marshall was coming in from behind to intercept, but Breck kicked it over Cornell’s head and was able to find the net for a 2-0 edge.

Argueta had another shot on goal to open the second half in an attempt to spark some Marshall momentum, which Breck quickly returned the same energy with a shot, but Cornell made a jumping save to push the ball over the net.

The Tigers continued to show fight, in another instance of seniors Karsten Springborg and Sabino Us taking the ball up together into the Mustangs’ attacking third for another shot attempt, but was caught by Breck’s goalie.

Breck ultimately scored another two goals in the 13th minute of the second half, and capped off the day with one more in the final two minutes of the match.

Marshall dropped its season opener 2-0 on the road at Sioux Falls Christian on Friday. Correa noted that was another competitive matchup which he felt his team performed well in, but just couldn’t find the back of the net.

The Tigers (0-2) will look to find the win column when they return to the field for its second of a three-game homestand today against Waseca with a 7 p.m. first kick. The match will be played at the Southwest Minnesota State University Track and Field turf.