March 29, 2007

Contact: Josh Rattray

CLEVELAND, Ohio - To say Ali Kazemaini made an impact in his first year at Cleveland State would be an understatement. In fact, his impact on the CSU soccer program was enough for the Vikings to tie for the largest improvement in NCAA Division I in Kazemaini's first year, improving 6.5 games from 2005 to 6-10-2 in 2006.

"We made the right steps last season, but we're not finished improving yet," Kazemaini said. "We're still in the first stages of competing against the top teams in the country.

"But it's still a step in the right direction."

Cleveland State, which regularly started eight freshmen and even started 11 newcomers on Oct. 11 at IPFW, went 0-17-1 in 2005 and had won just two Horizon League matches in three years before Kazemaini's arrival in the winter of 2005.

The Vikings were outscored, 65-17, in 2005 and cut that deficit to 31-25 in 2006.

Freshman George Kephart was named to the All-Horizon League second team and the all-newcomer squad. Marco DiFranco and Josh Williams also garnered all-newcomer honors.

Evansville also made a 6.5-game improvement, jumping from 2-14-1 in 2005 to 9-8 last season. Harvard and Western Illinois each improved by 5.5 games.

CSU returns 16 players, including 10 starters, from last year's squad.