Sept. 9, 2003

Box Score

NIAGARA, N.Y. - Stephen Ademolu scored the gamewinner with 14 minutes to play as the Cleveland State men's soccer team defeated Niagara, 2-1, for the Vikings' third straight victory. With the win, the Vikings go to 3-2 on the season, while Niagara falls to 0-3.

"We played better in the second half than we did in the first half, but we still got the job done," head coach Pete Curtis said. "We're still not consistent enough for my liking, but we're learning with every game, and that's all you can ask."

Spencer Lappin opened the scoring with a goal, his fourth of the season, in the seventh minute of the match. Lappin blocked a clearance by Niagara goalkeeper Eric Sullivan and the ball ricocheted into the net.

"Spencer showed some good hustle on that play, and he was rewarded for his effort," Curtis said. "He closed down quickly on the goalkeeper, and got a fortunate bounce straight into the back of the net."

Niagara got on the board by way of an own-goal against Cleveland State in the 30th minute. Benny Eck tried to clear a loose ball in the Viking penalty area, but it deflected off the head of Cameron Husty and bounced into the goal.

"That was just an unlucky play," Curtis said. "There wasn't anything that Amir (Kettani) could have done to save that, it was just very unlucky."

The two teams battled for the next 55 minutes before Stephen Ademolu collected his fourth goal of the season, collecting a pass from brother Nic Ademolu and firing a shot in the lower left corner of the goal.

Kettani picked up his third straight win, collecting six saves, and anchored the defense that was without team captain Jim Sears, who sat out after receiving a red card on Saturday at Loyola.

"Amir was outstanding today in pressure situations," Curtis said. "He was very good on high balls into the box, and that took a lot of pressure off the defense. The three returning guys in the back (Cameron Husty, Benny Eck, Matteo Zappa) all played extremely well today.

"We've got some serious challenges ahead, and we've got to continue to play with each other," Curtis said. "The guys are working hard, and there's going to be games that we might not play the best, but still win because of our high work rate."

The Vikings will try for their fourth-straight win on Sunday at Xavier at 3 p.m.