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Hammouda Goal, Ciraldo Clean Sheet Lift Vikings To Second Straight Win

Hammouda Goal, Ciraldo Clean Sheet Lift Vikings To Second Straight Win

The Cleveland State men's soccer team won its second match in a row on Sunday, 1-0, at Duquesne.

After the game was delayed an hour due to the field in use, the Vikings finished a perfect 2-0 at the Duquesne Invitational to improve to 2-3 overall. The Dukes fell to 1-3.

For CSU thus far in 2015, spreading the wealth has not been an issue. In a game that featured a new look for the Viking lineup, Hesham Hammouda became the fifth different Viking to score in as many games as he netted his first goal of the season on an assist from Kareem Banton in the 15th minute. It was Banton's first career assist and CSU's first as a team this season.

For the second straight game, Cleveland State headed into the break holding a 1-0 lead. Strong play in the back and push toward the front allowed CSU to lead shots 6-3 and shots on goal, 3-1. Two days after scoring a game-winning overtime goal, Jake Lagania had two of CSU's three shots on goal at the half. The Vikings were also only called for one foul compared to four for the opposition.

Despite being outshot 5-3 in the second half, the CSU defense of James Milli, Mustafa Raychouni, Sergio Manesio, Dan Koniarczyk, Kevin Blackwood and Jordan Ianiro allowed the Dukes just one shot on goal. Nick Ciraldo kept his first clean sheet of the year, again logging all 90 minutes in goal for the Vikings.

Milli, Raychouni, Koniarczyk and Ciraldo all also played all 97 minutes on Friday, totalling 187 minutes apiece over the last 48 hours.

Gianluca DiFranco continued his strong freshman season thus far, leading the Vikings in shots with three.

CSU took six corner kicks to Duquesne's five.

Lagania, Manesio and Koniarczyk were all named to the All-Invitational Team.

Cleveland State returns to Krenzler Field for the first time in nearly three weeks next Saturday (Sept. 19) to begin Horizon League play, hosting Wright State at 7:00 p.m. The Vikings will play four of their next five at home.