Vikings Open Four Match Road Swing with Pair This Week - Cleveland State University

Posted: Oct 09, 2017

THE OPENING KICK:
• Cleveland State opens a four match road trip with two matches this week.
• CSU travels to Akron Tuesday, Oct. 10, at 7:00 p.m. to start the trip.
• Tuesday's contest will be the 56th all-time meeting between the Vikings and Zips, the most CSU has faced any opponent, but the first since 2014.
• Akron has won the past three meetings, but CSU won in 2010, handing the Zips their only loss of the season.
• CSU then heads to League co-leader Green Bay this Saturday, Oct. 14.
• CSU is 17-19-5 against Green Bay, and the teams have met at least once every season since 1983. The teams tied, 1-1, last year with Lawrence Karpeh scoring for the Vikings while CSU won, 1-0, in its last trip to Green Bay.

LAST WEEK:
• Cleveland State dropped a 2-0 decision to Milwaukee in its lone action.
• CSU let up two second-half goals after outshooting UWM in the first half.

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• Kirk Harwat, who played at Akron, is in his first season as head coach for CSU after serving as an assistant for the program for the past five seasons.
• Senior midfielder Alec Nagucki, an All-Horizon League First Team honoree last season, has played in every match--all 66--since he arrived on campus.
• CSU has been seeded fourth or better in the Horizon League Tournament in eight of the past nine seasons, the only team that can make this claim.
• CSU lost two central defenders from last year that combined to play in 108 matches, with Sergio Manesio twice earning HL Defensive Player of the Year. CSU has started two newcomers at central defense in nine of 11 matches.
• Noah Pio has a point in three of the past four matches entering the week. Pio leads the League in shots in League matches with 21.
• CSU's 3-0 win at Oakland was its first three-goal win in HL play since 2013. Amazingly, the last time CSU won by 3+ goals in a road League match came in 1993.
• Twenty four of Cleveland State's last 32 goals have come in the second half. In fact, 11 of those goals have taken place in the 77th minute or later.
• CSU was one of the most disciplined teams in the Horizon League in 2016. It accrued 20 total cards while every other team in the League was issued at least 28. The Vikings have the fewest number of cards/match in 2017 (1.64).
• Six of Cleveland State's 10 newcomers have started a match this season.
• The Vikings allowed the fewest goals in the Horizon League last season, conceding 16 goals in 17 matches.
• Seven of CSU's eight non-League opponents are in the top 100 in the RPI. Five of the eight are among the top 60, including No. 1 Michigan State.
• Six Vikings have played in all 11 matches. Hesham Hammouda & Alec Nagucki are the outfield players to have played >90% of the possible minutes.
• CSU has allowed five goals from the run of play in its last eight matches.
• Cleveland State has outshot its first five HL foes by a combined 77-48 margin. The Vikings lead the League in corner kicks in HL matches (34).
• Madifing Conde's goal vs. Loyola is the only one by a CSU defender in 2017. Defender Thomas M'Barek also registered an assist at Oakland.
• CSU is one of two Horizon League teams not to take a penalty this season.

UP NEXT:
• CSU will continue its road trip with another journey to the central time zone as it heads to defending League champion UIC Saturday, Oct. 21.