CLEVELAND, Ohio- The Cleveland State men's soccer team were victorious on Wednesday night at Krenzler Field, defeating Duquesne 3-2.
The Vikings (3-4-0) played a hard faught game all 90 minutes on both sides of the ball. CSU attacked the Duquesne defense to go along with aggressive defensive pressure all evening long.
In the first half, the Vikings scored first in the match, when senior midfielder Aslinn Rodas scored his first goal of the year coming at the 20 minute-mark of the game. Senior forward Jordan Hart set up Rodas with a cross pass from the top of the box giving CSU an early 1-0 lead.
Duquesne would answer back with a game tying goal five minutes later (25:23 minute-mark) when senior midfielder Simon Gomez would score from the right side of the box. Josh Ellis was credited on the assist.
The goal from Duquesne did not affect the CSU offense. Senior Zach Ellis-Hayden put CSU back on top 2-1 at the 37:44 minute-mark when he netted his first goal of the year, scoring from the top of the box. Senior defender Al James set up Ellis-Hayden with an outstanding cross pass.
The Vikings continued to pick apart and control the ball on the offensive end when Jordan Hart scored his third goal of the year at the 44:19 minute-mark, giving CSU a comfortable 3-1 lead heading into halftime. It happened to be all the scoring the Vikings would need to win. Jacob Naumann assisted him on a cross pass.
In the second half, Duquesn's Josh Ellis scored off of a deflected Austin Saini save at the 71:15 minute-mark. The Vikings defense hung tough and kept the Dukes away from the net, hanging on to win 3-2.
Sophomore goalkeeper Austin Saini improved to 2-0 on the year, who saved four shots on the evening.
The Vikings will remain at home when CSU will play Buffalo on Sunday (Sept.22) at 1 p.m.