Sept. 8, 2008

Contact: Brian McCann

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Match 6
Cleveland State (1-4) at Ohio (1-3)
Date: Friday, Sept. 12, 2008
Time: 4:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Cheesa Field (1,000), Athens, Ohio
Series: OU leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: @OU 5, CSU 1 (9/4/05)

Match 7
Eastern Kentucky (2-1-1) at Cleveland State
Date: Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Krenzler Field (1,680), Cleveland, Ohio
Series: First Meeting

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State continues its non-conference slate this week by playing a pair of matches, including a Sunday matinee at Krenzler Field. The Vikings open the week on Friday, Sept. 12 in Athens, Ohio for a 4:00 p.m. meeting with Ohio University. CSU then returns home on Sunday, Sept. 14 to host Eastern Kentucky starting at 1:00 p.m. Cleveland State is 1-4 on the season after splitting a pair of contests last week.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings played two more non-conference matches last week, including their second home match-up of the year. Here is a synopsis of those contests:

Match 4: Akron 2, CSU 1 (Sept. 3, Krenzler Field)
Akron scored the deciding goal just 4:01 into the second half and the Vikings were held to just five shots as the Zips out-lasted CSU, 2-1. Allie Riczo scored the lone Viking goal off a deflected shot by Nikki Bevilacqua with 20 seconds left in the first half to tie the game at 1-1.

Match 5: CSU 2, Robert Morris 1 (Sept. 5, Moon Township, Pa.)
Natalie Daniels and Marley Greiner each scored unassisted first half goals and Kelly Zinkiewich made three saves and limited the Colonials to just one goal as CSU snapped a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 win.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Fifth-year Viking head coach Derrek Falor is optimistic about the prospects for another improvement on the playing field this fall as CSU returns eight starters from last year's 5-14-1 squad. Add into the mix a batch of 10 newcomers and Falor has the deepest and most talented lineup in program history. Senior Jennifer Wieand returns after setting CSU records for goals (8), points (19) and shots (63) last year and she will be joined up front by senior Abbie Kakias, sophomore Sylvia Olsby (3G, 3A, 9 points) and freshman Nikki Bevilacqua. The midfield lineup has been rebuilt and will be centered around sophomore Allie Riczo, who redshirted last season. She will be joined at center mid by freshman Natalie Daniels (3 goals) with freshmen Samantha Salamon and Rachel Strongoli starting outside. The defensive lineup is a veteran one with juniors Jessica McCloy and Emily Arpidone getting the starting nod in the middle with senior Maggie Pugliese and freshman Jordan King starting outside. Sophomore Kelly Zinkiewich returns in goal after starting all 20 matches last year, posting a 2.33 goals against average with 124 saves.

DANIELS FINDS THE MARK: Derrek Falor said during the preseason that he thought freshman Natalie Daniels would be a key member of the lineup this year. Little did he know that after three weekends of play, the Olympia, Wash. midfielder would lead the team in goals (3), points (6) and shots (13). In fact, although just a quarter of the season has been played, her three goals is already tied for the fourth-highest total in CSU history with her point total ranking eighth-best.

THE FRESHMAN CLASS: Natalie Daniels isn't the only freshman making her mark this year as a total of seven freshmen have made it into matches this year, including five players who have totalled 16 starts to date. Daniels has started all five contesst with midfielders Rachel Strongoli (Glenwillow, OH/Solon) and Samantha Salamon (Northfield, OH/Walsh Jesuit) starting four and three each, respectively. Defenders Marina Taylor (Richmond Heights, OH) and Jordan King (Silverdale, WA) have each started twice.

ZINKIEWICH EYES SAVE MARK: With 23 saves in five matches this season, sophomore goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich is closing in on second place on the career saves list. Zinkiewich has 147 career saves, including 124 last year, 26 short of second place Ashley Kidwell, who had 173 stops from 2004-06.

LONG-RANGE SCORING: Through the first three full weeks of the season, an unusual occurence has taken place regarding the Viking offense as all but three points has been scored by a player from outside of Ohio. Natalie Daniels (Olympia, WA) has tallied six of CSU's 13 points with Marley Greiner (Burnaby, BC) adding two points and Jennifer Wieand (Alden, NY) and Sylvia Olsby (Seattle, WA) one point each. The only points scored by players from Ohio came in the Akron match last week when Nikki Bevilacqua assisted on an Allie Riczo goal, the only goal scored at home this season.

FRIDAY WAS A WIN-WIN SITUATION: When the Vikings won at Robert Morris on Friday (Sept. 5) and the men's soccer team claimed a victory at Missouri State later in the evening, it marked just the second time in school history that both soccer teams won on the same day. The other time came on August 27, 2006 when the women defeated Delaware State, 6-0, for the first win in program history and the men followed with a 3-1 win over Canisius in a doubleheader at Krenzler Field.

BEVILACQUA BACK: One reason for the offensive struggles during the early season has been a knee injury that kept freshman forward Nikki Bevilacqua (Cortland, OH/Lakeview) out of the lineup in the first two games. The fastest player on the team, Bevilacqua returned to play several short shifts against Niagara, recording one shot. She had a bigger impact against Akron, assisting on CSU's lone goal.

NEXT UP: The Vikings return home to host IPFW on Friday, Sept. 19 at Krenzler Field.