Men's Soccer Ready for Season Opener

Posted: Aug 22, 2012

Aug. 22, 2012

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CLEVELAND, Ohio- With two exhibition games and a few weeks of practice in the books, the Cleveland State men's soccer team is ready to get the regular season officially underway.

The team will have its first chance at that as they take on Robert Morris University at 3:00 p.m. in Moon Township, Pa. this Friday.

The Vikings, who went 2-0 in the exhibitions and outscored their opponents 12-0 combined in those games, are ready to keep that high level of play going.

"We're happy where we're at but we also have to get prepared for Robert Morris," said head coach Ali Kazemaini. "They're a good, quality team."

"We've had a good preseason so far and hopefully we can have another good week of training to get ready for the game," Kazemaini added.

Robert Morris, who beat the Vikings 2-1 in overtime last year, is picked to finish tenth in the NEC (Northeast Conference) this upcoming season, and coming off a 4-12-1 2011 campaign. A season that saw the Colonials lose their last 10 games in a row. Although that is a tough stretch by any measure, looking at the results, nine of the 10 losses were by one goal, proving they were in almost every game.

For the CSU players they know preparation will be huge as they get ready for their first regular season game, especially with the game on the road.

"Once you hit the real season everything starts," said junior forward Admir Suljevic on preparation for Friday. "Once this game starts, we win this game, keep going on and our confidence goes up and it's harder to beat us."

One thing that Kazemaini mentioned will be key for the Vikings to get that first win is ball control.

"It's going to be really concentrating on our own game," Kazemaini said. "That's going to be key, can we go out on the road and control the ball and maintain possession."

The team will need that confidence and ball control, as they will continue on the road the next two weeks, leaving Robert Morris to head to back-to-back early season tournaments.