Oct. 8, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, OHIO - Marco DiFranco and Nenad Stojkovic each scored second half goals and CSU limited the visiting Mastodons just two shots as Cleveland State shutout IPFW, 2-0, on Wednesday night at Krenzler Field.
The win, the third straight for the Vikings, improved CSU to 4-6-2 on the year while IPFW slipped to 2-8-1.
"It was nice to get a win tonight and keep the win streak going," CSU head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "It is always hard to play a non-conference opponent in the middle of the conference season because there is a natural competitive let down and it is hard to play with the same intensity you do in a conference match.
"We struggled in the first half to create opportunities, but we put things together early in the second half and took control of the match.
"We are really starting to get into the flow on offense. Our forwards are working together well to find the seams and open things up," Kazemaini added.
The Vikings had an 11-2 edge in shots, including a 5-1 lead in a scoreless first half.
Cleveland State finally broke onto the scoreboard at the 55:07 mark when Slavisa Ubiparipovic played a ball from the right win into the middle that DiFranco gathered in, took one dribble and launched a shot to the back corner of the goal that eluded IPFW goalkeeper Michael Knitter.
The Vikings added an insurance goal at the 64:33 mark when Stojkovic perfectly executed a give-and-go-pass with Brian Donnelly and broke in one-on-one on goal. He took one dribble after receiving the back pass and slipped the ball over a charging Knitter and into the net.
Cleveland State kept the pressure on offensively the rest of the way, but a total of six offsides calls against the Vikings continually ended scoring opportunities.
Sophomore Nick Harpel had a relatively easy night in goal, making two routine saves en route to recording the shutout. Knitter made five saves for IPFW.
The win improved Cleveland State to 3-0-1 at home this year with all three wins coming in the last week,
The Viking, who are in fourth place in the Horizon League with a 2-2 record, resume league play at home against Valparaiso on Saturday (Oct. 11) beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.
