Oct. 11, 2009
Contact: Renee Adam
Cleveland, Ohio - Aaron Adkins scored his third goal of the season for the Vikings in the 96th minute of play, giving Cleveland State the 1-0 overtime victory over SIU-Edwardsville. CSU improves to 4-5-3 on the season, while SIU-Edwardsville falls to 4-6-1.
"This was a great win for us against a very tough team," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "We grinded it out through the whole contest, and many of our guys really stepped up and contributed when we needed them to because of all the injuries. Playing at home also helped, we could feel comfortable on our own field."
Adkins' goal came from ten yards out on the left side of the box, beating the SIU-Edwardsville goalie to the right corner of the net. The goal came just seconds after Slavisa Ubiparipovic had a shot on goal, with the keeper saving the ball and knocking it back into play, where Adkins capitalized on the second chance opportunity. Ubiparipovic recorded the assist on the play following his own shot.
"With Adkins' goal we got the rebound and the second chance opportunity," Kazemaini said. "We don't often get those opportunities, so scoring off of one is great especially on our home field."
Nick Harpel posted the shutout for the Vikings, recording five saves during the contest. The shutout marks Harpel's third of the season, giving him a career total of 13 shutouts, just two shy of moving into fourth place in the CSU record books.
The Vikings held the slight edge in shots on goal with six, compared to five that the Cougars tallied. Adkins led the team with four of the shots on goal, while Marco DiFranco and Ubiparipovic added the last two.
The Cougars had the advantage in shots through the contest, 11-9. Adkins record five, DiFranco added a pair and Anthony Baraldi and Slavisa Ubiparipovic each had one.
The Vikings will travel to IPFW for a mid-week match on Wednesday (Oct. 14) with kick off set for 7:00 p.m.
