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Contact: Kevin Zeise

Oct. 14, 2003

CLEVELAND - The Cleveland State men's soccer team will host nationally-ranked Notre Dame on Tuesday, October 14 at Krenzler Field before taking on Bowling Green in another non-conference matchup two days later.

About the Vikings
Cleveland State (6-7, 2-3 Horizon) fell to Marshall on Thursday, October 9, at Krenzler Field. After winning six out of seven earlier this year and running their record to 6-3, the Vikings have lost four straight matches.
Marshall 2, CSU 0 - Cleveland State suffered its fourth-straight defeat and second straight shutout, as the Vikings fell to Marshall. CSU was shut out for just the third time on the season.

About Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish come into Cleveland with a 7-2-3 mark and ranked 12th in the nation after falling to No. 25 Rutgers on Saturday, 5-2. The Irish are also ranked second in the Great Lakes Region by the NSCAA.

About Bowling Green
BGSU enters Thursday's match with a 5-5-2 record after defeating Northern Illinois on Sunday. The Falcons have won two straight after knocking off IPFW on Friday, Oct. 10. Dustin Snyder leads Bowling Green with eight points on the season.

Series Notes
Notre Dame holds a 3-0 edge in the series with the Vikings, with the last match in 2001. The Irish will be making their first trip to Krenzler Field. Against Bowling Green, Cleveland State leads the all-time series, 13-11, though the Falcons have won the past six matches, including a 3-2 win last year in Bowling Green. The last Cleveland State win against BGSU came in 1990, a 2-1 victory at Krenzler Field.

Head Coach Pete Curtis
In his fourth season as head coach, Pete Curtis has accumulated a record of 22-46-1 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 118-134-11 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.

Scoring Drought
The Vikings have been shut out for two straight games, and have gone over 240 minutes without a goal. David Prentice (North Curl Curl, Australia/St. Pius X) tallied the last CSU marker in the overtime loss at Detroit on Oct. 1. Following the Sept. 24 win over Pittsburgh, the Vikings were averaging 2.31 goals per game, a number that has dipped to 1.82 following the four game losing skid.

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 seven 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.

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 a three goal and two assist 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.

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.

Up Next
The Vikings will finally resume Horizon League play with a match against Butler on Oct. 24. Prior to that match, however, CSU will head to IPFW for another non-league matchup on Oct. 21.