Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Contact: Kevin Zeise

Oct. 6, 2003

CLEVELAND - The Cleveland State men's soccer team gets a bit of a break in their schedule this week, hosting Marshall in a non-league match on Thursday, October 9 at 7 p.m. This will be the first time since the beginning of the season that the Vikings have just one game on the schedule for the week.

About the Vikings
Cleveland State (6-6, 2-3 Horizon) has dropped three straight league matches, including a pair last week at Detroit on Wed., Oct. 1, and against Wright State on Sat., Oct. 4.
Detroit 2, CSU 1 (OT) - David Prentice (North Curl Curl, Australia/St. Pius X) scored his first collegiate goal early in the second half to tie the game at one, but the Titans scored on a corner kick midway through the first overtime to send the Vikings to their second straight defeat.
Wright State 1, CSU 0 - The Vikings were shutout for just the second time this season, losing their third straight league game. A goal by the Raiders in the ninth minute of the match was the only blemish on the scoreboard.

About Marshall
Marshall enters Thursday's contest with a 2-8 record after picking up a 3-0 win over Shepherd College on Sun., Oct. 5. Marshall will play at Liberty on Tuesday before coming to Cleveland for Thursday's match. Kirk Gibson leads the Herd in scoring with five points on a pair of goals and an assist. Three other players have four points on the year

Series Notes
The Vikings and Thundering Herd will be meeting for just the fourth time. Marshall holds a slight 2-1 edge in the series, winning the first two games in 1988 and 2001. Cleveland State won last season's meeting in Lexington, Ky., 5-2.

Head Coach Pete Curtis
In his fourth season as head coach, Pete Curtis has accumulated a record of 22-45-1 at Cleveland State. He guided the Vikings to a 10-11 mark last season, including a berth in the Horizon League championship game, and was named the Horizon League co-Coach of the Year. Curtis has compiled a career record of 118-133-11 in his 14 seasons as a head coach.
Prior to coming to CSU, Curtis spent five years at the University of Charleston, compiling a record of 68-30-7. He also spent five years at Marietta College, guiding that school to a 28-58-3 mark during his tenure. He is assisted by John Harr, in his first season, and Andy Carl, in his sixth season.

Following The Leader
The Viking offense continues to center around junior forward Stephen Ademolu (Windsor, Ont., Can./Herman). In each of the Vikings' six wins on the season, Ademolu has scored at least one goal, but he hasn't found the net in any of the six losses suffered by CSU. The junior forward has 23 points on the season on 10 goals and three assists.

Dangerous Even When Not Scoring
Even though he wasn't credited with the goals, Stephen Ademolu has created three other goals on the season for Cleveland State. Ademolu has been fouled three times in the penalty area, leading to three penalty kicks. The Vikings have converted all three this season, with David Carmichael (Paisley, Scotland/Penilee) scoring two and Benny Eck (Ottendorf, Germany/Friedrich-Fischer-Schule) finishing the third.

50 Years of Soccer
The 2003 campaign is the 50th season of soccer at Cleveland State University, a milestone that was marked during the Sept. 20 home opener against UIC. More than 50 former players and coaches were on hand for the festivities, which included an alumni game and recognition of alumni at halftime of the CSU-UIC match.

We're Going Streaking
The Vikings won four straight road games at Robert Morris, Loyola, Niagara and Xavier after starting the season 0-2. That streak is tied for the second-longest road win streak in school history, tying the 1981 campaign that saw the Vikings record wins at Bowling Green, UW-Milwaukee, Marquette and Ohio State. The record for consecutive wins away from home is six, set during both the 1977 and 1979 seasons.

The Drought Is Over
Stephen Ademolu's three-goal output against Robert Morris on Sept. 3 earned him Horizon League Player of the Week Honors for the week ending Sept. 7. That marked the first time a CSU soccer player has received the award since Colin Knott claimed it on Sept. 8, 1997. Ademolu then won the award again two weeks later after tallying an eight-point game against UIC in the home opener on Sept. 20.

Lappin The Competition
Spencer Lappin (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) has emerged as a complimentary offensive threat to go along with Stephen Ademolu in the Viking attack. Lappin is second on the team in scoring with 14 points on five goals and four assists, tops on the team. His three assists tie him with Ademolu for the team lead. The 14 points far exceed his offensive output of a year ago, when he scored just two goals in 16 appearances off the bench, tallying once against Detroit on Oct. 2 and again against Akron on Oct. 20.

Tournament Honors
Spencer Lappin and Stephen Ademolu were each named to the all-tournament team at the Duquesne Classic. Lappin scored a pair of goals in the tournament, while Ademolu collected an assist in the tournament's final match against Duquesne.

Up Next
Cleveland State will face its toughest task of the season, No. 8 Notre Dame, at Krenzler Field, on Tues., Oct. 14, before hosting Bowling Green two days later. Both games will be at 7 p.m.