Oct. 4, 2005
Contact: Brian Wolff
LEWISTON, N.Y. - Kwame Oduro recorded a hat trick and Niagara scored six goals in 30 minutes to defeat the Cleveland State men's soccer team, 6-1, on Tuesday. After allowing six goals in the first half, the Vikings played a much better match and received good performances from their bench.
Coming into the match this was supposed to be a battle of two of the nation's top goalkeepers, but that all changed just seven minutes into the contest. The Purple Eagles picked up their first goal 2:48 into the first half off the foot of Matt Stedman. Niagara would score five more times before the 30 minute mark to put the match out of reach.
"The match was effectively over 13 minutes in," head coach Pete Curtis said. "We were caught out of position too many times and by the time we adjusted, it was too late."
The Vikings picked up a goal in the 41st minute from Nenad Stojkovic. Stojkovic took a pass from Roshard Gilbert and drilled it into the bottom right corner for his second goal on the year.
"Even though we were down early, we showed tremendous character by playing hard at the end of the first and the whole second half," Curtis said. "We received some outstanding minutes from guys who don't normally see that much action."
Freshman goalkeeper Kasey Gray made his CSU debut and recorded five saves in the second half of play.
"I thought Kasey [Gray] really gave us a good effort," Curtis said. "We also got quality time from Mario Montoya, Sinisa Kovanovic and Chris Black, who we had play in the field today."
"These guys did jobs that are not normally asked of them and I am proud of them," Curtis added.
The Vikings will be a much different team when they take the field again on Sunday. It is expected that Kim Kroken return from his hamstring injury and Craig Coleman and Mark Zambra will both return after sitting out following yellow card infractions.
CSU hits Krenzler Field on Sunday, Oct. 9 as it plays in the front-end of a doubleheader with the Cleveland State women's team. The men take on UIC at 11:00 a.m. followed by the women hosting Butler at 1:30 p.m.
