Oct. 25, 2004

Contact: Brian McCann

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Match 18
Cleveland State (0-17, 0-5) at UW-Green Bay (3-10-1, 1-3-2)
Date: Friday, October 29, 2004
Time: 7:00 p.m. CDT
Site: Phoenix Field (3,500), Green Bay, Wis.

Match 19
Loyola (6-7-3, 2-3-1) at Cleveland State (0-17, 0-5)
Date: Sunday, October 31, 2004
Time: 1:00 p.m. EST
Site: Foltz Field (1,000), Strongsville, Ohio

SETTING THE SCENE: The Vikings close out the 2004 regular season with a challenging pair of league matches. CSU opens the week on Friday, October 24 with a 7:00 p.m. CDT contest at UW-Green Bay. The Vikings then return home for a Senior Day match against Loyola on Sunday, Oct. 31 beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST at Foltz Field in Strongsville. CSU (0-17, 0-5) heads into the final week of the regular season still looking for its first win and will face two teams in the lower half of the league standings. UW-Green Bay is 3-10-1 overall and in sixth place in the league standings with a 1-3-2 mark. Loyola is 6-7-3 overall and in fifth place with a 2-3-1 record.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings dropped a pair of matches on the road last week, falling 4-0 at DePaul and 6-0 at Butler. Here are a synopsis of those matches:

Match 16: DePaul 4, CSU 0 (Oct. 22, Chicago, Ill.)
Lea Hill scored a goal and added two assists to lead DePaul to a 4-0 win. The Blue Demons scored a pair of goals in a 16-second span to take a 2-0 first half lead and then outshot CSU, 26-3. en route to the win.

Match 17: Butler 6, CSU 0 (Oct. 24, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Kristin Harnest scored a hat trick, including a goal just 2:58 into the match, to lead Butler to a 6-0 win. CSU could manage just four shots offensively, none of which were on goal, and was outshot, 32-4.

VIKINGS CELEBRATE SENIOR DAY VS. LOYOLA: Sunday's regular season finale against Loyola will serve as the final home contest in the playing careers of seniors Katie Burke, Jessica Larsen and Ivana Milovic, and the trio will be honored in a pre-match ceremony. All three players have been with the program for two years, making the team last year as walkons and taking part in practices during the year. Burke and Larsen have served as co-captains this year, combining to start 22 matches while Milovic has played in seven matches as a reserve.

A LOOK AHEAD AT THE HORIZON LEAGUE TOURNAMENT: The first round opponent for the upcoming Horizon League Tournament became much clearer over the weekend. CSU, which sits in eighth place with an 0-5 mark, will most likely face UW-Milwaukee, which knocked off Detroit, 2-1, on Sunday to claim the regular season title. CSU will need to get at least a win and a tie in the two matches this week to claim the No. 7 seed and face Detroit, the No. 2 seed. CSU lost to both teams in the regular season, 1-0 at home against UW-Milwaukee and 13-0 at Detroit.

. . . AND THE REST OF THE TOURNEY PICTURE: With Cleveland State being involved in the only two remaining league matches this year, the rest of the Horizon League Tournament seeding is almost set. UW-Milwaukee, Detroit and Butler will be the top three seeds, respectively. Loyola needs a win over CSU to claim the fourth seed with a Loyola loss to CSU making Wright State the fourth seed. UW-Green Bay can be the fifth seed with a win over CSU and a loss by Loyola this week. Unless CSU gets at least a win and a tie this week, it will be the eighth seed with YSU being seeded seventh.

FRESHMEN ORIENTATION: With 14 of the 21 players on the CSU roster being classified as freshmen, the Vikings never find themselves without an abundance of rookies on the field. In fact, in the 17 matches this year, CSU's non-freshmen have combined to start just 34 times (out of a possible 187). CSU has started 10 freshmen five times this year, including in each of the last four matches. Senior Katie Burke was the lone senior to start in three of those matches with senior Jessica Larsen filling the role in each of the last two contests.

RASMUSSEN FINDS THE NET: Before she came to Cleveland State this fall, freshman Amber Rasmussen amassed an amazing total of 139 goals during her four seasons playing at Bristol High School in North Bloomfield, Ohio. It took her 15 matches, but she finally put her first marker on the scoreboard as a Viking, scoring from 15 yards out early in the second half against Youngstown State. Rasmussen, who assisted on each of the first two Viking goals this year, shares the team scoring lead with four points.

SHOTS & SAVES: One by-product of the Viking offensive struggles this year has been an increasingly larger number of shots by CSU opponents and consequently, saves by Viking netminders. Cleveland State has been outshot, 480-95 for the year with CSU goalies combining to make 191 saves in the 17 games (11.24 spg). Allie Zajaros has made 76 saves in 10 games in goal, including a school-record 18 against Bowling Green on Oct. 1. It was the most saves by a goalie in the Horizon League this year and the third-highest total in league history. Ashley Kidwell leads the team with 115 saves in 13 games, including double figure save totals in five contests. She made a career-high 15 stops at Detroit on Oct. 8.

CLAPACS LEADS MIDFIELD ATTACK: One offensive bright spot for the Vikings this year has been the play of freshman midfielder Heather Clapacs. Clapacs, who leads the team with 35 shots and 16 shots on goal, has emerged as CSU's best possession player. She set school records for shots (9) and shots on goal (7) in the Youngstown State match.

NEXT UP: With the regular season complete, the Vikings head to the Horizon League Championship, which will be played beginning on Thursday, Nov. 4 at Butler in Indianapolis, Ind.