Aug. 24, 2010
Contact: Dan Carr
COLUMBUS, OHIO - Aaron Adkins got Cleveland State off to a quick start, but several mistakes in the second half allowed Ohio State to pull away with a 3-1 win in the Vikings exhibition opener Tuesday night.
Adkins took a breakaway pass from Admir Suljevic and scored at the 28:34 mark. Ohio State responded with a goal eight minutes later, and the Vikings entered halftime with the game tied.
In the second half, two key Viking errors allowed the Buckeyes to score the deciding goals. Three minutes into the half, goalkeeper Brad Stuver cleared an attempt, but the ball inadvertently bounced off the head of a Viking defender and back into the goal. Later in the half a bad pass allowed Ohio State's Chris Hegngi to take the ball downfield and score unassisted.
Despite the mistakes, coach Ali Kazemaini was happy with his team's play.
"I was happy we didn't give up," Kazemaini said. "We played consistently, even with the mistakes, for 90 minutes, and when the errors happened we kept playing hard. This was a good test against a top-20 team on the road. I thought we played pretty well."
Kazemaini was particularly pleased with how the team started the game.
"The starting 11 played pretty well," Kazemaini said. "I thought our combinations were good, our intensity was good, and I was very happy with the performance of our freshmen."
Cleveland State had a steady rotation of substitutions during the game. 22 Vikings saw action in the game.
"We just made too many mistakes," Kazemaini said. "There were some fluke goals... the own goal off the bad clear, the breakaway off a bad pass. I felt all three [of Ohio State's] goals were soft, and not necessarily won. The other team played well, and they are a good team, but I think we could have had this one.
"This was a good experience for us, and we will learn from it. Once we get our fitness level up, things will get better."
The Vikings will get another chance to prepare for the upcoming season on Friday (Aug. 27) when they will travel to Cincinnati for their final exhibition game of 2010. The game is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.
