Aug. 27, 2007
Contact: Brian McCann
AKRON, Ohio -- Akron scored three goals in a 13-minute period centered around halftime and Cleveland State was limited to just five shots as the Zips claimed a 3-0 exhibition win on Sunday evening at Lee Jackson Field.
The exhibition contest was the second of the preseason for CSU, which defeated Bowling Green, 2-1, on Aug. 19 at Krenzler Field.
"Akron is about the best team that we will play all year and they presented a very good challenge for us," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "I thought we held up pretty well against them. We had a couple of mistakes, but for the most part, we held together and played as a unit."
"We are still a pretty young team and I am happy with the progress that we have made during the preseason. We still have another week of practice before we open up the season on Friday and that will give us the chance to solidify our lineup even further."
Akron opened the scoring in the 37th minute when Steve Zakuani got his foot on a loose ball in the box and slipped it by Viking netminder Dan Duric from seven yards out.
The Zips made it 2-0 just 41 seconds before halftime when Stefan Ostergren headed a free kick inside the left post.
The final marker came just 4:08 into the second half when Pablo Moreira took a long pass from Steve Kalan and got loose for a breakaway, beating CSU's Nick Harpel to the right side.
Despite the score, Kazemaini was impressed with the efforts of both CSU goalies.
"We have a pretty good competition going right now," Kazemaini said. "They both stood up pretty well to the pressure that Akron applied and did some nice things in goal."
Cleveland State will have five days to get ready for its season opener against St. Bonaventure on Friday (August 31) beginning at 8:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.
