Oct. 28, 2003
AKRON, Ohio - The Cleveland State men's soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision at Akron on Tuesday night, falling to 6-11-1 on the season with the defeat. Goalkeeper Amir Kettani made eight saves, but the Vikings could only muster five shots for the match.
"This game was more about pride than anything else," head coach Pete Curtis said. "We wanted to prove that we could play a solid defensive game, and for just the one mistake, we accomplished that tonight. The guys showed a lot of character and didn't buckle, and we frustrated a good offensive team time after time."
Akron scored the game's only goal in the 17th minute, as Kirk Harwat played a ball back to the oncoming Hans Jorgen Haugland, who beat Kettani to the bottom right corner of the goal. Akron had several other chances to score, but were turned back each time by Kettani and the Viking defense.
"Amir had two or three very good saves on 1v1 chances," Curtis said of the junior goalkeeper. "He showed his instincts and reflexes to keep us in the game, something we know he's capable of doing. The defense also limited the number of clean opportunities Akron had, which kept them shooting from long range."
The Vikings will close out the regular season on Saturday at UW-Green Bay. Depending on the result of Wednesday's UW-Green Bay/Loyola match, Saturday's match could determine whether the Vikings will head to Detroit or to Butler in the opening round of the Horizon League Championship.
