Marshall University and the University of Kentucky don’t often get to face one another in major athletic competitions. They are not in the same conference and they aren’t located in the same state.
However, the Thundering Herd and the Wildcats are bitter rivals on the soccer field.
That rivalry boiled over on Wednesday night as they faced one another in the conference tournament. It got chippy, fast!
Marshall defender Braian Amaro was involved in a kerfuffle during the early minutes of the first half. He deserves an Academy Award for his performance.
As the two teams gathered together on the pitch, both sides chirped back and forth. There was some minor pushing and shoving. And then a Kentucky player proceeded to catch Amaro with an elbow before open-hand pushing him in the face.
Amaro was caught off guard. He stood baffled for a moment.
About ‘two Mississippi’ seconds later, he flopped to the turf and laid face-first on the ground.
Amaro did not draw a foul for the flop, but he deserve to be commended for his effort! It was one of the funniest flops of the year, which says a lot considering how often soccer players flop.
Marshall consistently has one of the better men’s college soccer programs in the country. Kentucky is one of just two schools in the SEC with a men’s soccer program.
As a result, the two programs compete in the same conference— the Sun Belt. Their rivalry dates back to 1991 when they both were part of the MAC and C-USA.
Although the Wildcats leads the all-time series, the Thundering Herd has been the more dominant program in recent years. Marshall is currently ranked No. 1 in the country. Kentucky is just outside of the top-25.
Regardless of record, it is always chippy when they get together on the pitch. In this instance, following Amaro’s flop, the Thundering Herd defeated the cross-state rivals and advanced to the semifinals.