MATCH #3
vs. Cincinnati | Friday, Aug. 31 | 7:00 p.m.
Live Video | Live Stats
PDF Notes
Week #2
THE OPENING KICK:
• Cleveland State plays a single match this week--its regular season home opener Friday, Aug. 31, against Cincinnati.
• CSU and UC will be meeting for the seventh straight season.
• The Bearcats hold a 9-7-1 lead in the series, but CSU is 5-3 at home.
• Gianluca DiFranco has scored in both of the matches he's played against Cincinnati while Antonio Burgoa & Lawrence Karpeh have assists against UC.
• Cleveland State is 6-3-1 in its last 10 home openers, claiming wins the last two years and in four of the past five overall.
• Lawrence Karpeh has scored in both CSU home openers he has played in while Gabriel Pewu has points in both of those matches.
LAST TIME OUT:
• Cleveland State outshot Big Ten foe Northwestern in its season opener but dropped a 3-0 decision as two unfortunate headers in the defensive box cost the Vikings.
• The Vikings then came up on the short end of a 1-0 fixture at Loyola (Ill.) that was played in scorching conditions in Chicago.
FREE KICKS:
• Cleveland State was tabbed fifth in the Horizon League preseason poll.
• While it took the fifth seed in 2017, CSU has been seeded fourth or better in the Horizon League Tournament in eight of the past 10 seasons, the highest figure in the League in this span.
• CSU improved its NCAA RPI ranking by 51 spots from 2016 to 2017.
• CSU is 7-2-1 in its last 10 home games and has allowed eight goals.
• All eight true freshmen that are healthy played on the season's opening weekend. Two more redshirt freshmen also made their collegiate debuts.
• Six CSU rookies started at least once this past weekend while Ryan Kolonick and Saahb Kular started both matches on defense.
• Vlad Jandric and Noah Pio were both selected All-Horizon League Second Team in 2017. Thomas M'Barek was named to the All-Freshman Team.
• Noah Pio has a point in seven of the past 14 matches, scoring in four of them. Pio was among the top 10 in points, goals and assists in HL play in 2017.
• Thirty one of Cleveland State's last 42 goals have come in the second half. In fact, 12 of those goals have taken place in the 77th minute or later.
• CSU has 13 newcomers on the roster, 10 freshmen and three transfers.
• CSU has allowed 11 goals from the run of play in its last 16 regular-season matches.
• Noah Pio is the only returning Viking that played in all 19 matches last year, and he played the most minutes (1,378) of all returning players.
• Antonio Burgoa and Thomas M'Barek both started 15 matches last season, the most among all returning Vikings.
• Vlad Jandric and Noah Pio combined to score six of the final nine goals in Horizon League matches in 2017.
• CSU's 24 goals and 22 assists in 2017 were its highest totals since 2012.
• Cleveland State won two road matches by at least three goals last season for the first time since 1990.
• Ben Hryszko, Dan Manolache and Thomas M'Barek all started at least 10 matches on defense as a true freshman last season, with all three starting both postseason matches.
• Vlad Jandric was named Academic All-Horizon League in 2017.
• Cleveland State started two true freshmen on defense and a true freshmen goalkeeper in its season opener. Last time out at Loyola (Ill.), three true freshmen started on the back line while redshirt freshman Alex Gyerman made his debut.
• Gyerman had a fine outing in goal, making seven saves in his debut.
