Sept. 5, 2006

Contact: Brian McCann

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Match 5
Cleveland State (1-3-0) vs. Nicholls State (1-3-1)
Date: Friday, Sept. 8, 2006
Time: 4:30 p.m. CDT
Site: The Cage (500), Mobile, Ala.
Series: First Meeting

Match 6
Cleveland State at South Alabama (0-4)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006
Time: 10:30 a.m. CDT
Site: The Cage (500), Mobile, Ala.
Series: USA leads, 1-0

SETTING THE SCENE: The young Cleveland State women's soccer program will accomplish another first this week when the Vikings play in their first-ever in-season tournament at the KELME Port City Classic in Mobile, Ala. CSU opens tourney play on Friday, Sept. 8 at 4:30 p.m. CDT against Nicholls State and then plays host South Alabama on Sunday, Sept. 10 beginning at 10:30 a.m. CDT. Both matches will be played at The Cage on South Alabama's campus. Cleveland State, which will be closing a season-long six-match road trip this week, has lost three straight contests since opening the year with a 6-0 win over Delaware State.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings continued their current six-match road swing with a pair of contests in the state of Indiana. Here is a synopsis of those matches:

Match 3: Valparaiso 4, CSU 1 (Sept. 1, Valparaiso, Ind.)
The host Crusaders scored just 74 seconds into the second half to break a 1-1 tie and added two more second half markers en route to a 4-1 win. Freshman Heather Wagner scored the lone Viking goal -- the first of her career --just six minutes into the contest to even the score at 1-1. CSU was out-shot, 17-8.

Match 4: IUPUI 2, CSU 1 (Sept. 3, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Angie Pilat scored twice in the first four minutes of the second half and CSU could not recover, falling 2-1. Shayna Bäck scored her fourth goal of the season at the 52:07 mark to pull the Vikings to within a goal, but CSU could not put the equalizer on the board in the final 38 minutes.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: The Vikings have played well during the opening weeks of their third season of women's soccer but the record doesn't adequately show the improvement that they have made since last season. With nine starters and 13 letterwinners returning, head coach Derrek Falor has the deepest and most-experienced roster available since he came to CSU. CSU is still young, owning a 24-player roster that includes 11 freshmen, seven sophomores, five juniors and just one senior. Sophomore Erin Withrow, who led the Horizon League with 122 saves last year, emerged from preseason as the starter in goal and has done well, holding opponents to less than two goals a game. The preseason move that has paid the biggest dividends came when Falor moved sophomore Abbie Kakias to the central defender slot, a move that has solidified the young defender lineup that includes sophomore Natalie Wilson and freshmen Allie Riczo and Danielle Ultican. The area of the field that has shown the most improvement since last year is at the midfield with the five returning starters combining to record all but two of CSU's 25 points this year. The unit is led by junior Heather Clapacs (2 assists), a two-time second team All-Horizon League choice, while juniors Amber Rasmussen and Shayna Bäck (4 goals, 1 assist) have combined to start 74 games over the last two years. Rounding out the midfielders are sophomores Ashley Walchack (3 goals, 1 assist) and Lisa Conway (1 goal, 3 assists), who finished third and fifth on the team in scoring last year. The Viking offense was dealt a big blow just before preseason practice when junior Jennifer Wieand tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee and will be sidelined for the season. The injury created the opportunity for freshman Heather Wagner, who scored her first career goal at Valparaiso last week

BACK TO THE MIDFIELD: After playing most of her first two seasons on defense, junior Shayna Bäck has thrived since moving to the outside midfield slot during preseason. Bäck leads the Horizon League in goals (4), points (9) and points per game (2.25), despite entering the season having never scored a point in 34 career games prior to this season. Bäck has had at least one point in every match this year, tallying the first two goals in the Delaware State contest, providing CSU with its only marker at both Kent State and IUPUI and assisting on the lone goal at Valparaiso. The streak goes even further back as Bäck had a goal and an assist in the exhibition match against Saginaw Valley State.

WALCHACK'S RETURN SPARKS OFFENSE: The return of Ashley Walchack to the lineup gave the Viking offense a big boost in the opener as the sophomore set a school record for goals in a match with three - all in the second half -- against Delaware State. Walchack added an assist at IUPUI, allowing her to rank third in the Horizon League in both goals (3) and points (7). Walchack finished second on the team in scoring a year ago despite missing the final seven matches of the year.

WITHROW ADDS TO SAVES RECORDS: Sophomore goalkeeper Erin Withrow made eight saves last week to extend her school career saves total to 143, nine more than teammate Ashley Kidwell. Withrow, who led the team with 122 saves last year, made five saves in the season opener against Delaware State to post her second career shutout. She currently ranks second in the Horizon League in both saves (21) and saves per match (5.25).

WAGNER FINDS THE MARK: With junior Jennifer Wieand out for the season with a torn ACL, head coach Derrek Falor opted to move freshman Heather Wagner from midfield to forward to make up for the offense lost by the injury. Wagner has played well in her three games as a starter, ranking fourth on the team with seven shots. Her hard work paid off in the loss at Valparaiso last week when she pounced on a lose ball in the box to score the first goal of her Viking career.

NEXT UP: The Vikings return home for only the second time this season when they host Akron on Friday (Sept. 15) beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.