Oct. 11, 2008
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Three different players scored and Cleveland State extended its win streak to four straight matches with a 3-2 victory over Valparaiso in Horizon League action on Saturday night at Krenzler Field.
CSU, which improved to 5-6-2 overall and 3-2 in league play, has now won four straight for the first time since Sept. 3-14, 2003. The last time the Vikings won five consecutive matches was during the 1986 season.
Valparaiso slipped to 4-7-2 overall and remained winless in the league (0-4-1).
"This was a great, hard-fought win for us tonight," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "Things got a little hectic after we gave up the late goal off the corner kick, but we hung tough down the stretch. It's nice to be on a win streak and we are going to keep working and playing hard to keep this going.
"We are really starting to click on offense and a different player is stepping up each game. I thought Nenad (Stojkovic) really played well tonight and gave us a nice spark."
Stojkovic got the scoring started in the 28th minutes when he took a pass from Marco DiFranco and beat Valparaiso goalkeeper Kyle Zobeck with a shot from just inside the box.
It stayed that way until the Crusaders got on the board at the 43:00 mark when Steve Shively tallied his third goal of the season. Brett Bermes began the play by dribbling up the sideline before sending a pass to the middle where Shively was able to beat CSU keeper Nick Harpel.
But the Vikings responded quickly, scoring the go-ahead goal just 19 seconds later when Josh Williams knocked in a loose ball in the box from 15 yards out, giving CSU a 2-1 lead at the half.
The Vikings extended the lead to 3-1 13 minutes into the second half when Mitch Boyer converted a penalty kick after Stojkovic was taken down in the penalty box.
Boyer is now 5-for-5 on penalty kicks this season all all five of his goals have come via a PK.
The Crusaders closed to within one goal (3-2) with eight minutes left on Oscar Lomeli's fifth goal of the season off a corner kick, but they could not get the equalizer.
Valpo outshout the Vikings, 15-10 and had a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.
Harpel and Zobeck each made four saves.
The Vikings will be back in action on Friday (Oct. 17) when CSU travels to Detroit for a 4:00 p.m. match.
