Sept. 3, 2004

Final Stats

Contact: Brian McCann

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall's Katie Watson scored three goals and added an assist and Elise Provenzano added a goal and two assists as the Thundering Herd shutout Cleveland State, 6-0, in women's soccer action on Friday night.

Playing without three of the their anticipated starters on defense, the Vikings struggled defensively, misplaying several balls that led to breakaways for the Thundering Herd.

Marshall improves to 2-0-2 on the year while CSU drops to 0-3.

"Even though the score doesn't show it, I thought that we made some positive strides on offense this evening," head coach Derrek Falor said. "Our possession game was like night and day compared to the Toledo match last week. We had some very strong segments where we were able to effectively change the point of attack."

"This is going to take some time," Falor continued. "We knew that depth was going to be a problem this year so it is really going to show when we go into a match with as many defenders out as we did tonight."

CSU played without freshmen Rachel Johnson and Maggie Pugliese, who started each of the first two matches on defense before being felled by injuries this week, and Abbie Kakias, who was expected to start this fall before suffering an early summer knee injury that has sidelined her for the season.

Marshall jumped out quickly, scoring a pair of goals in a 155-second span. Jamie Gruber scored off passes from Provenzano and Watson at the 13:01 mark and Watson came right back, scoring the first of her three goals at the 15:36 mark.

Watson scored in the 40th minute to give the Thundering Herd a 3-0 half-time advantage and then completed the hat trick at the 50:29 mark of the second half. Mollie Lee and Provenzano added goals down the stretch to close out the scoring.

The Vikings, who had managed just five shots in the first two matches combined, fired 10 shots in the match. Freshman forward Jennifer Wieand led the way with five shots while Heather Clapacs added three.

Freshmen Ashley Kidwell and Allie Zajaros split the time in the nets with Kidwell, who earned her second start, making a school-record eight saves while Zajaros added two.

The Vikings resume their non-conference schedule on Sunday night (Sept. 5) when they start a three-match home-stand with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff against Duquesne at Foltz Field in Strongsville.