Sept. 22, 2008

Contact: Brian McCann

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Match 8
Cleveland State (1-4-2, 0-0) at Loyola (4-1-1, 0-0)
Date: Friday, Sept. 26, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m. CDT
Site: Loyola Soccer Park (500), Chicago, Ill.
Series: CSU leads, 17-12-1
Last Meeting: @CSU 0, UIC 0 (2ot) , (10/5/07)

Match 9
Cleveland State at UIC (5-0-2, 0-0)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008
Time: 12:00 Noon CDT
Site: Flames Field (1,000), Chicago, Ill.
Series: Loyola leads, 9-5
Last Meeting: Loyola 2, @CSU 0 (10/7/07)

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State (1-4-2) opens up Horizon League play this week with a pair of matches in Chicago. The Vikings open the week with a 7:00 p.m. CDT match at UIC on Friday (Sept. 26). CSU then remains in the windy city to face Loyola at 12:00 noon CDT on Sunday (Sept. 28). The matches will end a season-opening stretch that has seen the Vikings play eight of their first nine matches on the road.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings played a pair of road matches last week, going 0-1-1. Here are recaps of those contests:

Match 6: CSU 0, St. Bonaventure 0 (2ot) (Sept. 19, Olean, N.Y.)
Both teams combined for just 19 shots, including just four on goal,as CSU battled through two overtime periods to a scoreless tie at St. Bonaventure. The Vikings played the final 12 minutes down a man after Anthony Baraldi received his second yellow card.

Match 7: Akron 2, CSU 1 (2ot) (Sept. 21, Akron, Ohio)
Stefan Ostergren scored the game-winning goal with just 96 seconds left in the second overtime as 10th-ranked Akron escaped with a 2-1 win over CSU. Mitch Boyer scored the lone Viking goal on a penalty kick in the 59th minute. Nick Harpel made nine saves for CSU, including one on a penalty kick.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Third-year head coach Ali Kazemaini has a young, talented roster with nine starters returning from last season's 3-12-3 team. With eight freshmen and three transfers added to the mix, Kazemaini has the depth at every position to improve upon last season. Junior defender Mitch Boyer returns to lead the backline after earning second team All-Horizon League honors for leading the team in assists (4) and points (6). He is joined in the back by junior Josh Williams, who will transition from forward, as well as freshman Justin Mancine and junior Eric Tattersall. Sophomore Nick Harpel is back as the starting goalkeeper. He ranked fourth in the league in save percentage (.767) and fifth in saves (69), while recording four shutouts. The midfield is extremely deep and Kazemaini can call on any number of players, led by Anthony Rucci, the lone senior on the roster. The key will be up front where the Vikings will need to improve upon their 12 goals scored last season. Junior Slava Ubiparipovic, a Xavier transfer, was brought in to supply the offensive attack up front. Freshman Alfred Majer and junior Jeff Baker will also see action as forwards.

THE HEAD COACH: Former Viking All-American Ali Kazemaini is in his third season as the head coach at Cleveland State. He was hired in December of 2005 and immediately charged with returning the program to prominence. In his three years at the helm, Kazemaini claims a 10-26-7 mark, as his Vikings were the most improved team in Division I in 2006. Kazemaini boasts a career record of 186-102-19 as a head coach, which includes a 14-year stint as the head coach at John Carroll. He is a three-time OAC Coach of the Year and two-time region coach of the year, leading JCU to seven conference championships and four tournament titles.

ONE GOAL DILEMMA: Head coach Ali Kazemaini knew going into the season that goal scoring would be an issue this year and through the first half of the schedule, that has proven to be correct. In seven matches, CSU has scored just seven times with the Vikings going 0-3-2 in matches decided by a goal or less and 1-1 in matches decided by more than one goal. Last year, the Vikings were 3-7-3 in matches decided by a goal or less, including an 0-5-1 mark in Horizon League matches. In fact, that figure was a little worse as CSU was eliminated from the league tournament on penalty kicks after playing Green Bay to a scoreless tie through two overtimes in the opening round.

HARPEL PROVES DIFFICULT TO BEAT: One of the primary reasons why the Vikings have been in just about every match this year has been the play of goalkeeper Nick Harpel. The only goalie on the roster this year, Harpel has made 39 saves in the seven matches to date, ranking second in the Horizon League with 5.57 saves per match. The match at 10th-ranked Akron was a prime example of his play as he made nine saves, including one on a penalty kick in the first 11 minutes, to force overtime. His save total against the Zips allowed the sophomore to pass the 100 save mark for his career. He starts the week with 105 career stops, including 66 as a freshman.

FRIDAY NIGHT HIGHLIGHTS: Friday night has proven to be a pretty good night for the Vikings to play this year as CSU is 1-0-2 in matches played that day. That is quite an improvement from the 0-6-2 record on Friday's in 2007. The women's soccer team has been successful on Friday's as well, going 3-1 including consecutive wins over Robert Morris, Ohio and IPFW.

VIKINGS PICKED NINTH: With the Vikings league opener on the Horizon, CSU is out to prove the experts wrong after being picked to finish last in the Horizon League this season. UIC was picked first, receiving eight first place and a perfect score of 64 points. Green Bay was tabbed second with one first place vote and 52 points, one point ahead of third place Loyola (51). Butler (43) was picked fourth, followed by Milwaukee (39) in fifth, Valparaiso (26) in sixth, Wright State (20) seventh, Detroit (16) eighth and CSU (13) ninth.

TOUGH TRIP AHEAD: It is bad enough that CSU is picked to finish ninth in the league this year, but they will also open the league schedule with two of the toughest matches of the year on the road. UIC and Loyola, who were picked to finish first and third, respectively, are a combined 9-1-3 this year. Last year, CSU battled UIC to a scoreless tie but fell, 2-0, to Loyola. Both matches were played at Krenzler Field.

NEXT UP: The Vikings return home to start a four-match homestand, hosting league matches against Green Bay on Friday, Oct. 3 and Milwaukee on Sunday, Oct. 5.