Oct. 23, 2010
Contact: Dan Carr
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Vikings converted a free kick and a penalty kick into goals and Cleveland State's men's soccer team defeated Wright State, 2-1, on Saturday night (Oct. 23) to guarantee a 10th straight trip to the Horizon League postseason tournament.
The Raiders struck first, scoring three minutes into the second half when Jordan Haggit took a pass from 20 yards out and sent it into the right back corner of the net. Entering the match, the Vikings had been 0-9 in games where the opponent scored first, but this night would prove to be different.
"We had been playing good soccer," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "The way we had been playing, if the game had ended a 1-0 loss, I couldn't go in and tell my players I was disappointed. As it turned out, we continued to play well after the score, and we showed a little resilience."
Cleveland State created several opportunities in the second half, including playing more aggressively on the opponent's side of the field. It paid off at the 61:25 mark when a handball was charged to Wright State. Manuel Conde took the free kick and fired it right past a wall of defenders, tying the match.
"We did a good job of creating opportunities in the second half," Kazemaini said. "Conde's free kick was the result of us sticking to our style of play. We did a better job of switching point of attack and were sharper on trying to attack their flanks. All in all, we played some good soccer and it turned the game around."
The Vikings took the lead for good in the 76th minute when a questionable yellow card was assessed to Wright State's Kenji Goldman after he knocked over Aaron Adkins in front of the net. Adkins took the penalty kick and shot it into the right corner of the net.
Wright State had one last chance to force overtime late in the match. A yellow card on Brian Donnelly gave the Raiders a free kick in front of the Vikings' net. The ball bounced around and WSU's Justin Circle had a very good scoring opportunity, heading the ball in the direction of the net with 15 seconds left in the contest. CSU goalkeeper Brad Stuver made a terrific save on the play, preserving the victory.
"Good teams don't make mistakes like that at the end of the game," Kazemaini said. "We were in great position to run out the last three minutes of the match, we had been playing very well, and then we made a series of silly mistakes with Donnelly's yellow giving Wright State a really good chance to tie the game. I'm not happy about that, but we will learn from it and get better."
The win gives Cleveland State (7-9, 4-3 Horizon League) 12 points in the conference. That, combined with having tie-breaker advantages over Valparaiso and UIC thanks to victories over those teams earlier in the year, assures the Vikings of finishing in the top six in the conference standings and qualifying for the playoffs.
"Our first goal at the beginning of the season was to get into the playoffs, and we did that," Kazemaini said.
The Vikings have one last conference match remaining, a road trip to Butler, currently ranked No. 9 in the country, on Nov. 5. Before that, however, the Vikings will host the No. 1 team in the nation, Akron, in CSU's final home game of the season next Saturday (Oct. 30).
"Playing Akron will be a great experience for our kids," Kazemaini said. "It will be good preparation for Butler. We're not going to just throw in the towel against Butler, we're going to push them to try and improve our seeding for the playoffs. And if we play well against Akron, our guys will know that we can go in and beat Butler."
