Aug. 30, 2003
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Cleveland State men's soccer team fell to Duquesne, 3-2, in the final game of the Duquesne Classic Saturday night in Pittsburgh, Pa. With the loss, the Vikings fall to 0-2 on the young season, while Duquesne raises their record to 2-0.
"We gave Duqesne a lot of problems tonight, and that was a very good team we faced tonight," head coach Pete Curtis said. "The difference between tonight's game and last night against Temple were truly night and day."
Spencer Lappin opened the scoring in the match by taking a header from David Prentice and racing past three Duquesne defenders before putting a low shot past Duquesne goalkeeper Zach Varga at the 19:05 mark of the match.
"Spencer made a good run, collecting the ball in the middle of Duquesne's end and beating some players," Curtis said. "He showed very good composure in finishing it off, with the goalkeeper coming out at him."
The Dukes responded five and a half minutes later, as Jason Kutney took a feed from Derek MacKenzie and beat Viking goalkeeper Scott Deitz, making his Cleveland State debut. An Andrew Bell goal at the 37:39 mark put CSU down, 2-1, at the half.
The Dukes went up 3-1 on a penalty kick by Damien Pottinger, converted past Deitz, six minutes into the second half. The margin would remain until the final 15 seconds of the match, when Nic Ademolu took a feed from twin brother, Stephen, and beat Varga to close out the scoring.
The Vikings had another excellent chance at scoring shortly before Nic Ademolu's goal, as Bryan Fecke had a shot that hit the crossbar and was lost in a crowd of players before being cleared out by the Duquesne defense.
"The intensity and the work rate we showed tonight was a marked improvement over the match against Temple," Curtis said. "If we should continue to play at that level, we'll have ourselves a very good season."
Lappin and Stephen Ademolu were named to the Duquesne Classic all-tournament team. Lappin scored a pair of goals in the season's first weekend, while Ademolu collected an assist in his only game of the tournament. Ademolu, a junior, sat out Friday's loss to Temple because of a red card he received in the Horizon League Championship game last season.
The next game for Cleveland State will be on Wednesday, when the Vikings head back to western Pennsylvania for a 4 p.m. match with Robert Morris.
