Men's Soccer Begins 2005 Season With Trip To Western New York Athletics

Posted: Aug 29, 2005

Aug. 29, 2005

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Match 1
Cleveland State (5-12-2 in 2004) vs. Canisius (5-11-1 in 2004)
Date: Friday, Sept. 2, 2005
Time: 5:00 p.m. EDT
Site: UB Stadium (31,000) Buffalo, NY
Series: CSU Leads, 2-0
Last Mtg.: CSU 3, Canisius 1, Sept. 16, 2000; Krenzler Field

Match 2
Cleveland State (5-12-2 in 2004) vs. Buffalo(8-8-2 in 2004)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Site: UB Stadium (31,000) Buffalo, NY
Series: CSU Leads, 3-1-1
Last Mtg.: CSU 1, Buffalo 0, Oct. 15, 2004; Lost Nation Park

SETTING THE SCENE: The Vikings open the 52nd season of men's soccer at Cleveland State with two matches this weekend at the Buffalo Fall Classic. CSU will spend its Labor Day weekend playing Canisius first on Friday, Sept. 2 and will finish on Sunday, Sept. 4 with a matchup against host Buffalo at 1:00 p.m. Cleveland State returns nine of its players from 2004 where it finished the season with a 5-12-2 record. The Vikings will have 12 newcomers on their squad this season.

PRE-SEASON REVIEW: The Vikings took part in two exhibition matches during the pre-season and finished with an 0-1-1 record. Cleveland State tied Ashland University 1-1 before falling to Pittsburgh, 4-2. Here is a recap of the matches:

Exhibition 1 - Cleveland State 1, Ashland 1 (Aug. 18, Ashland, Ohio) In only their second day back to campus, the Vikings took an early lead against Ashland, but fatigue played a part and they gave up the game-tying goal in the 79th minute. Junior college transfer Ismail Ismail scored on a penalty shot during the first half for CSU. Nine newcomers were in the starting lineup for the Vikings.

Exhibition 2 - Pittsburgh 4, Cleveland State 2 (Aug. 23, Lost Nation Park) After giving up three goals in the first 15 minutes of action, the Vikings made a good effort for a comeback, but came up short. Sophomore Roshard Gilbert scored in the opening minutes of the second half off a pass from Tom Sadd. Five minutes later, sophomore Nick Weiner redirected a Jim Stannard header to trim the Panthers' lead to one. The three CSU goalkeepers combined for eight saves, including four from freshman Anthony DeMarco.

CURTIS ON THE VIKES: "I think the strength, athleticism, and experience that the new defensive players bring to the squad will make us a much more difficult team for opponents to break down. I also believe that the confidence a strong defense gives to a team can provide a tremendous springboard for our offense. We have a very young team that is going to learn how to play at this level. In our two exhibitions we started nine newcomers in each game, which helped get them used to the speed of the college game. This is going to be a very different team from last year."

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: The Vikings return three starters and nine lettermen from the 2004 season. The three returning starters for Cleveland State are the fewest in the Horizon League. The Vikings will have 12 newcomers on the team, nine of which will fight for starting positions come opening day. The defense will be the strong point for the Vikings with junior Mark Zambra and sophomore Craig Coleman anchoring the unit. The midfield will be led by sophomore Cormac Finn who will get the help from four of the newcomers who will all see significant time at the position. CSU added natural scorers to the team in his newcomers upfront. Junior college transfer Ismail Ismail and freshman Nenad Stojkovic will both be a spark to the front-line. The goalkeeping battle will be up for grabs with all three of the Vikings netminders trying to win the position. Sophomore Chris Black is the only one who has had collegiate playing experience finishing with a goals against average of 1.64 last season.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Vikings return to Krenzler Field for the 2005 season after playing the entire 2004 campaign off campus. Krenzler Field went under massive renovations including the addition of FieldTurf and a removable air-supported dome. Krenzler Field has been the home to CSU soccer since 1985. The field, which underwent nearly $3 million in renovations will be rededicated on Oct. 2, during a doubleheader with the Cleveland State men playing Marshall and the Viking women playing UW-Green Bay.

NEW SITE FOR THE VIKES: With youth comes a new experience. Since the team is primarily made up of first and second year players, no 2005 Viking has ever played a collegiate game on Krenzler Field. The only remaining member of the 2003 team, Mark Zambra, practiced with the team that year, but redshirted the season while he fulfilled his eligibility requirements.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP: Sophomores Craig Coleman and Cormac Finn are both returning for the Vikings after having freshmen seasons that earned them both spots on the All-Horizon League second team and the all-newcomer team. Coleman, an anchor on the Vikings' defense, started in all 18 matches he played last season. Finn played in all 19 matches, starting in 18 of them. Finn's only goal was the first Viking goal scored in a 3-2 victory over Alabama A&M on Sept. 5, 2004.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL: The 2005 Vikings have members that hail from six different countries, including members from the United States, Canada, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand and Norway. In addition, two of the three members of the CSU coaching staff are from the United Kingdom in head coach Pete Curtis and graduate assistant Steve Kehoe. The Vikings have the most international players of any team in the Horizon League.

HEAD COACH Pete Curtis: Pete Curtis is beginning his sixth year at Cleveland State after five years at the University of Charleston in West Virginia. Curtis is the eighth coach in the history of CSU men's soccer. Curtis was named Horizon League co-coach of the year in 2002 and last season put one player on the All-Horizon League first team and two players on the second team.

UP NEXT: The Vikings will team up with Cleveland State women's team for a pair of doubleheaders next week. The two teams will travel south to Akron on Friday, Sept. 9 where the men will play the Zips at 5:00 p.m followed by the women's contest at 7:30 p.m. The two Cleveland State soccer programs will then come home to play their first games in the newly-renovated Krenzler Field on Sunday, Sept. 11. The Cleveland State women open up the day against Valparaiso at 1:00 p.m. and the men's match against Marshall at 3:30 p.m.