Oct. 2, 2002
CLEVELAND - Freshman Adrian Balc (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) scored late in the first overtime period to propel Cleveland State to a 3-2 victory over Detroit (8-2-1, 0-1-0 HL) Wednesday night at Krenzler Field. With the win, the Vikings evened their record at 5-5-0 overall and improved to 2-0 in Horizon League action. Both conference victories have come in extra time.
CSU struck first in the 11th minute, when sophomore Stephen Ademolu (Windsor, Ontario/Herman) took a through ball from freshman Bryan Fecke (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne) and beat Detroit goalkeeper Matthew Strabbing in a one-on-one situation. Strabbing was given a red card five minutes later when he took down senior Joachim Walker (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay) on a breakaway, forcing the Titans to play a man down the remainder of the game.
With just 30 seconds remaining in the half, sophomore Spencer Lappin (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) netted his first career goal to put the Vikings up 2-0. Balc and Ademolu recorded assists on the score.
Despite being two goals and a man down, Detroit rallied in the second frame. Senior Eris Tafaj scored in the 52nd minute to cut the deficit in half, then netted the equalizer 11 minutes later.
The score remained knotted until the 98th minute, when Balc collected a loose ball 25 yards out on the right side and ripped a shot that skipped past Detroit goalie Jason Hamilton. The goal was Balc's fourth game-winner on the year. He also beat Butler on Sept. 11 with a deciding penalty kick in overtime. Unfortunately, Balc, who has totaled 10 points (4G, 2A) in the last four contests, will have to sit out the next match due to an accumulation of five yellow cards.
Sophomore Amir Kettani (Kirtland, Ohio/Lake Catholic) made three stops in net for the Vikings. With at least nine games remaining, CSU has already recorded more wins than in any of the past four seasons and has doubled its conference victory total from the past two years.
The Vikings are in action again when they travel to Wright State on Sunday, Oct. 6 for a 2:00 p.m. contest.
