Aug. 27, 2006

Final Stats

Contact: Josh Rattray

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Vikings are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 1995 after defeating Canisius, 3-1, on Sunday night at Krenzler Field. Under first-year head coach Ali Kazemaini, CSU has won back-to-back games for the first time since Sept. of 2004.

"We played hard tonight," Kazemaini said. "Our kids are playing very good soccer. We did a lot of good things on both ends of the field and we played with a lot of heart."

After Canisius took a 1-0 lead early in the first half, freshman George Kephart evened the score with a one-timer off a corner kick at the 28:02 mark. CSU would take a 2-1 lead at 50:50 when junior Tom Sadd scored on a header off a free kick by freshman Marco DiFranco.

"Being down at home early is good for us," Kazemaini said. "It showed that we can react and raise our level of play. Now we have to build on that."

Freshman Bryan Henson gave the Vikings a 3-1 lead at the 86:14 mark with a header off fellow freshman Andrew Gutting's corner kick. Gutting had two assists in the match and now leads the team in scoring with five points. He had a goal and an assist on Friday against Robert Morris.

The match was physical from the opening whistle, with seven yellow cards being issued, four of those to Viking players.

"It was the first match for Canisius and they came out hard," Kazemaini said. "But we matched up with them well. We are a bit younger than they are, but I was pleased with the intensity of our players."

With both teams playing at a fast pace, Cleveland State quickly took control of the match. The Vikings posted 12 shots to just six for Canisius. Seven of CSU's shots were on goal and the Vikings held the edge on corner kicks, 7-2.

"We put a lot of pressure on them tonight and it gave us a lot of good scoring opportunities," Kazemaini said. "We didn't let any of their players get penetration and we controlled the ball."

Sophomore Kasey Gray got the win, playing all 90 minutes in goal for the second straight game. Gray posted two saves and now has a 0.50 goals against average.

Cleveland State travels to Pittsburgh on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. match before returning home next Sunday (Sept. 3) to take on Western Michigan.