Sept. 12, 2005

Contact: Brian Wolff

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Match 5
Cleveland State (0-3-1) at Robert Morris (1-2-0)
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005
Time: 4:00 p.m. EDT
Site: North Athletic Complex (500), Moon Township, Pa.
Series: CSU Leads, 6-3-0
Last Mtg.: CSU 3, RMU 1 (10/5/04 at CSU)

Match 6
Cleveland State (0-3-1) at UW-Green Bay (3-1-0)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 18, 2005
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Phoenix Field(3,500), Green Bay, Wisc.
Series: Series Tied, 13-13-2
Last Mtg.: UWGB 1, CSU 0 (OT) (10/9/04 at CSU)

SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State men's soccer team hits the road for its next three matches, including two this week. The Vikings will meet Robert Morris on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 4:00 p.m. CSU then travels to UW-Green Bay to begin Horizon League play. The Vikings meet the Phoenix on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings are coming off a 5-3 loss to Marshall in their home opener. The three goals are a season-high for Cleveland State.

REVIEWING THE WEEK: The Vikings completed a tough week of play, including a matchup with No. 9 Akron. Here is a review of the two matches:

Match 3 - Akron 12, Cleveland State 2 (Sept. 9, Akron, Ohio.) The Vikings allowed the most goals in school history during a 12-2 loss to No. 9 Akron. Roshard Gilbert and Nenad Stojkovic each scored their first career goals in the match, but the Vikings were outshot, 26-4.

Match 4 - Marshall 5, Cleveland State 3 (Sept. 11, Krenzler Field) Sophomore Steve Trapp scored the first two goals of his CSU career, but the Vikings fell to Marshall, 5-3, in their home-opener. Team captain Mark Zambra added his first collegiate goal as well. It was CSU's first match on Krenzler Field since Oct. 23, 2003.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: The Vikings continue to make strides, but it hasn't been easy with a roster that features 13 new faces. CSU started nine first-year players in its loss to Akron and six in the home-opener against Marshall. The defense, which has the most experience on the field, has been continually tested as the Vikings have been outshot, 75-32. The Vikings appear to have more talent up front in their forwards, as Ismail Ismail is amongst the league leaders in shots with eight. The Vikings have scored six goals in their first four matches. None of the four players who scored this past week had a goal coming into the season.Freshman Anthony DeMarco has seen most of the time between the pipes this season, ranking third in the Horizon League with 21 saves.

SCOUTING THE COLONIALS: The Colonials enter the match with a 1-2 record after a 3-1 loss to Hartwick. Robert Morris is led by sophomore Jacek Przednowek, who has scored two goals. The Colonials play a freshman goalkeeper Matt Felice, who earned his first career win in a 3-1 victory over Oneonta.

...AND THE PHOENIX: The Vikings get a familiar opponent when they face their conference foe UW-Green Bay on Sunday. The Phoenix are 3-1 after a 2-1 loss to Denver. UW-Green Bay is led by Joshua Okoampa, who is tied for the league lead with eight points. In goal for the Phoenix is Josh Lloyd, who comes into this week with a 1.00 GAA.

TRAPP NETS TWO: Sophomore Steve Trapp scored the first two goals of his career on Sunday against Marshall. Trapp netted the first goal of the match to give the Vikings their second lead of the season and then he put one past the goalkeeper again in the 83rd minute. Trapp is the first Viking to tally two goals in a match since Spencer Lappin did it against Marshall on Sept. 19, 2004.

ZAMBRA SCORES FIRST CAREER GOAL: Nobody on the 2005 Vikings has spent as much time with the program as Mark Zambra and the team captain finally scored his first goal as a Viking on Sunday. He put a shot past Marshall goalkeeper Greg Walter for the marker during the 59th minute of play. Zambra redshirted during the 2003 season while he fulfilled eligibility requirements. Last season he started all 17 matches that he played in, putting two shots on goal against Marshall.

ON THE HORIZON Cleveland State's match on Sunday with UW-Green Bay will kickoff conference play for the 2005 season. It is the only conference match on the slate of matches for Sunday and the next Horizon League contest will not be until the following Friday, Sept. 23 when Wright State visits Detroit and Loyola goes to UIC.

NEW FACES ALL AROUND: The 2005 Vikings came into this season with 13 newcomers, many of who play significant roles on the team. CSU started nine newcomers on Friday at Akron, with the only returners being All-Horizon League second team members Craig Coleman and Cormac Finn. The newcomers have 29 starts between them which is 66% of the team's starts. The Vikings have the fewest amount of returning starters from last season in the Horizon League.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL: The 2005 Vikings have members that hail from six different countries, including citizens from the United States, Canada, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand and Norway. In addition, two of the three CSU coaches are from the United Kingdom in head coach Pete Curtis and graduate assistant Steve Kehoe. The Vikings have the most international players of any team in the Horizon League.

HEAD COACH Pete Curtis: Pete Curtis is in his sixth year at Cleveland State after five years at the University of Charleston in West Virginia. Curtis is the eighth coach in the history of CSU men's soccer. Curtis was named Horizon League co-coach of the year in 2002 and last season put one player on the All-Horizon League first team and two players on the second team.

UP NEXT: CSU wraps up its three-match road trip with a trip to Pittsburgh, Pa. for a match with Duquesne on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 7:00 p.m.