Sept. 10, 2005

Contact: Brian Wolff

Final Stats

AKRON, Ohio - The Cleveland State Vikings couldn't stop the offensive outburst of the No. 9 Akron Zips, falling 12-2 Friday night at Lee Jackson Field. For the second straight game inexperience showed as the Vikings started nine first-year players in the game.

"Going into the game I knew if we didn't learn from our mistakes of last Sunday that this scoring margin could happen, and it did," head coach Pete Curtis said. "Too many of the players were not tuned in to the game in the decision making needed to play at this level."

The Zips scored two early goals, but CSU came right back on a goal by Roshard Gilbert, who took a pass from sophomore Steve Trapp and put it past the Zips' goalkeeper, cutting the Zips lead to one. The goal by Trapp was the first goal of the season let up by the Zips, breaking a streak of over 200 scoreless minutes. Akron would score four more times in the first half, including three goals in just a little over a minute, before the Vikings would get their second marker, a penalty shot by Nenad Stojkovic in the 40th minute of play. The Vikings trailed 6-2 going in to the break.

The Zips would match their first half goal total in the second half, scoring 12 goals, the most ever let up by the Vikings. Despite the final score, freshman goalkeeper Anthony DeMarco made seven saves, but the Vikings were outshot 26-4.

"The good thing is that we have a game on Sunday and that will be a perfect opportunity to cleanse ourselves of this poor performance," Curtis said. "We will have a good training session tomorrow and get back on track against Marshall."

Cleveland State will open a new era at Krenzler Field on Sunday as it plays on the newly-renovated surface for the first time and their first game at Krenzler Field since the 2003 season. The game will be part of a doubleheader with the women's team as they play Valparaiso at 1:00 p.m. The men will follow against Marshall with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.