Sept. 5, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Brian McCann

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Marco DiFranco had a goal and an assist and Bryan Henson added a pair of assists as Cleveland State knocked off Missouri State, 2-0, in the opening round of the Missouri State Tournament.

CSU (1-2) will now face Drake on Saturday afternoon. Drake (3-0) defeated Centenary, 1-0, on Friday night.

"This was a much better effort and a much better result," CSU head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "We went out tonight and played the style of ball that we wanted to and took advantage when he had scoring opportunities.

"It was a true team effort. Eleven guys working together for the win. The defense played hard and kept the chances to a minimum and when something did get through, Nick (Harpel) did a nice job of shutting things down.

"We are starting to find ourselves offensively and I expect us to only get better and better as we play more together.

DiFranco put the Vikings ahead, 1-0, at the 19:17 mark when he took a pass from Henson on the left wing and after making one touch, blasted a shot from 20 yards out that deflected off an MSU defender and into the goal past a surprised MSU goalkeeper Alex Riggs.

"Marco did a nice job of creating space for himself on the wing," Kazemaini said. "He gathered in the pass and saw an opening and let it loose."

The score would remain unchanged until the 73rd minute (72:44) when CSU scored off a loose ball in the box from a corner kick. DiFranco served the corner to the near post where Henson played it off the first bounce to the middle. Stephen Byer gathered the ball in in a crowd and somehow found a way to nudge it into the net from six yards out.

"Stephen was in the right place on the corner and he was fortunate to get to the loose ball," Kazemaini said. "Once he got it, he was fortunate that his shot got through everybody in front of the net.

"We were fortunate to score both of our goals, but after last week when we missed out on every good scoring opportunity, it was good to get a few breaks. Still, our guys played the way they were supposed to and were rewarded."

Nick Harpel made four saves in goal, and the defense added a fifth, to record the shutout. Both teams took nine shots.