Aug. 24, 2011
Contact: Tim Ertle
Match 1
Cleveland State (0-0) at Akron (0-0)
Date: Saturday, August 27, 2011
Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
Site: FirstEnergy Stadium - Cub Cadet Field (4,000) - Akron, Ohio
Series: Akron leads, 35-11-4
Last Meeting: @CSU, 2, Akron 1 (10/30/10)
SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State men's soccer team will kick off the 2011 season with a match at Akron, the defending National Champion on Saturday (Aug. 27). Last year, the Vikings were the only team to defeat the Zips during their magical run, taking a 2-1 thriller on October 30, 2010.
REVIEWING LAST WEEK: Cleveland State went 0-1-1 during their two exhibition matches. Below are brief recaps of the contests:
Exhibition Match 1: St. Francis 2, CSU 0 (Aug. 17, Loretto, Pa.) The Red Flash used goals to close each period to come away with a 2-0 win. Each team had 10 shots, with St. Francis putting six on goal compared to just five from the Vikings. Admir Suljevic led the charge with two shots on goal for CSU.
Exhibition Match 2: CSU 1, Cincinnati 1 (Aug. 20, Cleveland, Ohio) As was the case in the exhibition opener against St. Francis, the Vikings surrendered a goal late in the first half to fall behind 1-0. CSU evened things up in the second half when an Aaron Adkins shot caromed off the post, and freshman Mike Dezeric slammed it home to tie the game at one.
2011 SEASON PREVIEW: When looking at the Vikings 2011 roster, you'll notice a lot of familiar names. The 2010 team finished 9-10-1, but expectations are high this season with nine of the team's top ten scorers from last season returning.
In total, the team has just nine upperclassmen on the roster. The sophomore class dominates the roster with 13 second-year players. Because the Vikings were young in 2010, a lot of those guys saw time as freshmen. Although just sophomores, they do have game experience and youth will not be used as an excuse. To ensure the younger guys stay focused, Kazemaini puts a lot of faith into his upperclassmen to lead by example both on and off the field.
"I think what they've experienced here the last three years or so should allow them go give some guidance and we're hoping that goes a long way," Kazemaini said of his four seniors. "They can show the young guys how to approach training and the season. Mostly they'll help by showing what is expected and how you need to handle yourself to get prepared for this level of competition. The seniors can give some really valuable feedback to the younger guys."
Brad Stuver is arguably the best goalkeeper in the league, and behind him are a couple of local kids with high ceilings. Joe Kalt and Toby Frohlich, who come from St. Ignatius and St. Edward High School respectively, have won at every level. Beyond stats, Stuver has the ability to line everybody up and has earned the respect of his teammates.
There is some versatility in who slides back as a defender in Kazemaini's lineup, with Brian Donnelly and Justin Mancine dropping back to the last line in front of Stuver. Al James, Cameron Eisses, Zach Ellis-Hayden and Christopher Koy all can be counted on and Kazemaini knows what he can expect from that quartet. He also has Justin Cree, Tommy Fitzgerald, John Gulden and Visnu Maharaj at his disposal.
Manuel Conde and John Wargo will lead the charge for the midfielders, while Donnelly and Mancine can slide forward to man the midfield. Aside from those upperclassmen and Aslinn Rodas, it's a lot of unknowns at this spot for the Vikings. Sophomore Milos Govedarica and newcomers Mike Derezic, Jordan Kotsopoulos, Marco Pavlek and J.P. Piacente should all get an opportunity for playing time. Freshman Scott Scaperato could contribute, depending on his offseason leg injury.
The forwards for the Vikings are a bit more of a known commodity, although they are still a young group. Aaron Adkins (nine starts), Caleb Eastham (seven starts), Jordan Hart (five starts), Matt McWilson (two starts) and Admir Suljevic all return. Newcomers like Derezic and Pavlek, as well as transfer Cazz Warren and freshman Zaire Morrison, all can lend a hand at the front position.
MAKE 'EM COUNT: In his sophomore season, Aaron Adkins scored three goals and added two assists to finish tied for third on the team in points with eight. When he scored, he made it count. All three of his goals were game-winners, and he assisted on the game-winning goals against Akron and Valparaiso. Manuel Conde was another Viking who made his goals matter. He found the back of the net three times, and in each of those games CSU would go on to win by one goal.
WELCOME BACK: After a stellar freshman season in 2009, TopDrawerSoccer.com projected Admir Suljevic to be one of the 20 best Horizon League players for the 2010 season. Because of an injury suffered in the fall, that 2010 season never started. Suljevic tallied 12 points (three goals, six assists) and was named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer team in 2009. He returns this season as a sophomore and will start at forward. Also returning after a season-ending injury in 2010 is Justin Mancine. He started 16 games in 2009 as a sophomore and was primed for a breakout junior season. In the opener against St. Bonaventure, he injured his leg and was granted a medical redshirt. On a team that has a young core, his 31 career starts will go a long way.
HOPIN' FOR A GOOD OPEN: In order for the Vikings to get off to a good start, they'll have to reverse some trends in season openers. Since 2000, the Vikings are 3-6-2 in season openers. The last time CSU opened their season on the road with a victory was 1999 when they knocked off Western Michigan, 3-1. Since then, they've opened the season on the road four times and dropped all four matches. Twice in program history, CSU has opened with Akron and they lost both times. In 1960, Akron won 8-0 and the Zips were victorious in 2003, 3-0.
WON'T BE EASY: In order to break those season opener trends, the Vikings will have to stop a big pattern working for the Zips. Since 2008, Akron is 37-0-2 at home, tying them for the longest undefeated streak at home in NCAA Division I soccer. With a win over CSU, Akron would take over sole possession of that record.
WHERE THEY STACK UP: The Vikings (53 points) garnered respect in their league as the Horizon League coaches' ranked them second in the preseason poll, behind only Butler (60 points). The Bulldogs, ranked No. 21 in the NSCAA preseason poll, picked up five first place votes compared to three for the Vikings. The only other team to pick up a first place vote was Milwaukee (40 points), pegged third in the poll. There was a three-way tie for fourth place with Green Bay, UIC and Valparaiso all picking up 33 points. Loyola and Detroit each received 31 points, placing seventh while Wright State rounded out the poll with 10 points.
CAPTAINS: Manuel Conde and Brad Stuver have been selected by head coach Ali Kazemaini to serve as team captains.
NEXT UP: The Vikings will have the school week off from competition as Cleveland State starts classes on Monday. They'll return to action next Saturday (Sept. 3) when they take on Bowling Green. After that, the Vikings travel out to the California to take on San Jose State (Friday, Sept. 9 - 10:00 p.m.) and Santa Clara (Sunday, Sept. 11 - 5:00 p.m.).
