Oct. 23, 2005
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Valparaiso scored four second half goals to break open a tied match and claim a 5-2 win over Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon at Krenzler Field.
The scoring outburst came following a first half that saw the Vikings take a 1-0 lead and control play for the majority of the first 45 minutes.
"It was another frustrating afternoon for us," head coach Pete Curtis said. "We showed a lot of positive signs out there today but we allowed our concentration to slip a little and allow Valparaiso some opportunities that they shouldn't have had.
"The bottom line is that they had seven shots on goal and we had seven, but five of theirs went in and we only scored two. We have to do a better job of converting our opportunities while denying our opposition their chances.
"After Valparaiso went ahead, we were a little bit stretched in back because we played with just three players in the back because we had to chase the game. That left some space that they were able to exploit," Curtis added.
Cleveland State opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Nenad Stojkovic gathered in a cross from Roshard Gilbert just inside the box, made a move to elude a defender and slid a shot from 10 yards out past Crusader goalie Jeff Oleck.
The goal was the team-leading fifth of the year for Stojkovic and the fourth in the last six matches.
The lead was short-lived as Valparaiso evened the match at 1-1 in the 23rd minute when Clifton Brown scored from the corner of the box on the right side.
CSU, which held an 11-5 advantage in shots in the opening stanza, would see it turn around on them in the second half as Valparaiso had a 14-4 shooting edge to claim a 19-15 shot advantage for the match.
The Crusaders opened the second half scoring at the 51:52 mark when Jon Brighton ran onto a long pass from D.J. Catrow and dribbled past CSU goalie Chris Black before scoring into the open net.
J.J. Eschenburg scored the next two markers for Valpo, the first on a header off a cross from the right wing at 64:40 and the second on a header off a long throw in into the box at 77:21.
Kim Kroken brought CSU to within 4-2 when he scored on a cross from Burke Schultz at the 82:57 mark. It was Kroken's first goal of the season.
Valpo came right back to add its final goal at the 85:08 mark when Yuuki Guzman, who had just entered the match, headed in a corner kick from Nate Hyde.
Black, who was making just his second start of the season, made two saves in goal for CSU while Oleck made four saves for the Crusaders.
"We felt that with the tournament ahead, we needed to have a backup keeper who was game ready. Chris did a good job. You can't blame him for any of the five goals," Curtis said.
Despite the defensive lapses in the second half, Curtis praised the play of sophomore defender Craig Coleman.
"Craig was outstanding on defense today. He was top drawer," Curtis said. "If the rest of our defense could play with the level of competition and commitment that he does, then we wouldn't have any problems."
The Vikings close out the regular season with a pair of road matches this week, playing at Bowling Green on Wednesday (Oct. 26) before heading to Loyola for a Sunday match (Oct. 30).
