Oct. 24, 2009
Contact: Renee Adam
Fairborn, Ohio - Freshmen Admir Suljevic and Aaron Adkins led Cleveland State in the 2-0 shutout at Wright State this evening, recording goals in both halves of the contest for the Vikings. The squad improves to 6-6-4 overall and 3-1-2 in the Horizon League, while Wright State drops to 4-9-1, 2-4-1 in the league.
"We had great possessions all night long, especially during the first half which gave us the chance to score the first goal," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "It is unfortunate that we didn't get more goals in the first half because we definitely had the chances to score more. It was just a matter of time before we would score, because we outplayed Wright State during the entire first half."
Suljevic put the Vikings on the scoreboard early when he scored his third goal of the season in the seventh minute of the match putting CSU up 1-0. Suljevic put the ball in the net after the Raider defense had a difficult time clearing the ball in the box. The goal also marked his third in just under one week.
Jeff Baker received two yellow cards during the match putting the Vikings a man down with 28 minutes to play. Despite the loss Adkins gave CSU a 2-0 lead in the 66th minute after scoring his fourth career goal. Adkins took control of the ball in the box, pulling Wright State goalie, Corey Whisenhunt out of the net, shooting from 10 yards out. Audric Kilroy recorded the assist on the second Viking goal of the night.
"It was unfortunate that Baker got the second yellow card, putting us a man down for 28 minutes," Kazemaini said. "You have to give the guys credit for the being able to record the second goal even playing with a man down on the road."
Brad Stuver posted the shutout for the Vikings, recording three saves during the contest giving him a total of 38 career saves. The shutout marks the first of the season for Stuver.
CSU had a slight edge in shots over the Raiders, 10-9. Suljevic led the team with four shots while Slavisa Ubiparipovic and Adkins each recorded a pair. Anthony Baraldi and Marco DiFranco also added one shot each. The Vikings recorded just two shots on goal, successfully putting them both into the back of the net.
Suljevic and Adkins both had close calls at second goals during the match, when they each had a shot that hit the crossbar and post respectively. Both of these shots came in the first half of play.
"It was good to have Mitch Boyer back in the defense for us, and we hope to have him back against Butler as well," Kazemaini said. "We didn't know how he would play tonight, but he was able to play the whole match giving us the stability in the back that we need, especially when we face Butler next week."
The Vikings return to Krenzler Field for the final regular season home match on Saturday (Oct. 31) when they host Butler at 7:00 p.m.
