Nov. 11, 2009
Contact: Renee Adam
Cleveland, Ohio - Cleveland State and UIC played a defensive, scoreless 110 minutes, with the final decision coming down to penalties as the Vikings advanced, 3-1. Mitch Boyer, Marco DiFranco and Josh Williams all converted their kicks as Brad Stuver made three stops during the penalties. The Vikings have now successfully gone two straight seasons undefeated at home. They are 11-0-3 at Krenzler Field during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
"That was a battle out there tonight, neither team wanted to go home and we both wanted to go to Indianapolis," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "We played as good in the first half as we have in the four years that I have been here. We did everything but score."
CSU advances to the semi-finals of the Horizon League Championship after converting three penalties to UIC's one. Goalie, Jovan Bubonja made the lone penalty for the Flames, right before Boyer converted on the Vikings' first attempt of the night. DiFranco and Williams would go on to give CSU the 3-1 advantage after Stuver stepped up in goal, blocking three UIC kicks coming from the right, left and right.
"Two years ago we lost the shootout at Green Bay and that knocked us out of the tournament and our guys were determined to not have that happen again," Kazemaini said. "Mitch, Marco and Josh didn't make a mistake and they finished their plays. Brad was unreal tonight, his save on the last play was about as good as it gets."
Both squads only accounted for five shots on goal during the entire contest, with Jeff Baker and Justin Mancine recording three for the Vikings. Stuver made two saves during the match, along with three stops during the penalty attempts.
"I always choose my goaltenders on a hunch and I made the decision before the Wright State match that Brad was the guy in the post season, and boy did he show it tonight," Kazemaini said. "We knew they would come at us in the second half with everything they have which they did, but we were ready for them and we controlled the ball, limiting the chances that they got."
"Now we have to get ready to play Butler again," Kazemaini said. "The Butler match earlier this season was one of our toughest matches of the year, so we need to stay focused throughout the whole week."
The Vikings will now face Butler in the semi-finals of the Horizon League Championship on Friday (Nov. 13) at 2:30 p.m. in Indianapolis, Ind.
