Oct. 17, 2005
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Match 14
Wright State (5-8, 1-2) at Cleveland State (0-12-1, 0-5)
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Krenzler Field (1,680), Cleveland, Ohio
Series: WSU Leads, 10-8-1
Last Meeting: WSU 2, CSU 1 (10/3/05, Fairborn, Ohio)
Match 15
Valparaiso (4-7) at Cleveland State (0-12-1)
Date: Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Krenzler Field (1,680), Cleveland, Ohio
Series: CSU Leads, 7-0
Last Meeting: CSU 4, Valparaiso 1 (9/1/97, Valparaiso, Ind.)
SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State closes the home portion of its 2005 schedule when the Vikings play a pair of home contests this week. CSU opens the week with a Horizon League match against Wright State on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field. CSU then steps away from the league schedule to play Valparaiso on Sunday, Oct. 23 beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.
REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings played a pair of matches last week, including a Horizon League road contest at Detroit. Here is a synopsis of those contests:
Match 12: IPFW 2, CSU 1 (2OT) (Oct. 11, Krenzler Field)
The Vikings lost their second straight match in overtime when IPFW scored on a near-breakaway with just 5:29 left in the second OT period. CSU took a 1-0 lead when Nenad Stojkovic scored in the 14th minute off a short cornerkick play. The lead would hold until the second half when IPFW tied the match in the 51st minute.
Match 13: Detroit 3, CSU 2 (Oct. 16, Detroit, Mich.)
Jim Stannard and Roshard Gilbert each scored first half goals but it was not enough as Detroit evened the match at halftime and scored the game-winner at the 60:00 mark. Anthony DeMarco made five saves.
PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: The Vikings have beared some resemblence to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this season defensively, especially over the last handful of matches. CSU has sandwiched two of its strongest defensive showings of the year -- a 1-0 loss to defending Horizon League champion UW-Milwaukee and a 2-1 overtime loss to UIC -- around a 4-0 loss to Butler and a 6-1 setback at Niagara. One thing that has been consistant this year has been the youth of the team. In the Oct. 9 loss to UIC, the Vikings used a starting lineup that consisted of four freshmen, five sophomores and two juniors. CSU took an offensive hit on Sept. 23 when junior Ismail Ismail, who was leading the team in shots, broke his left ankle in practice. Steve Trapp and Nenad Stojkovic have stepped up, sharing the team lead with two goals each. Freshman netminder Anthony DeMarco continues to show improvement, entering the week led the Horizon League in both saves (90) and saves per match (6.9) while ranking among the top five nationally in both categories as well.
TWO ELIGIBLE FOR ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA HONORS: The emphasis that Cleveland State places on performing academically as well as athletically was apparent last week as a pair of Vikings were eligible to be nominated for ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors. The duo consisted of sophomore defender Tom Sadd and sophomore midfielder Vincent Rosati. Each qualified because they have cumulative grade point averages of 3.20 or higher, are starters or important reserves and are sophomores. Sadd has a 3.78 grade point average while majoring in business while Rosati sports a 3.27 GPA in business. The Academic All-America team is selected by the membership of the College Sports Information Directors of America.
JUNIOR NIGHT?: One by-product of the youth of the Vikings this year is that even though CSU closes its home schedule against Valparaiso on Sunday (Oct. 23), there will be no Senior Night ceremonies before the match because the Vikings have no seniors. The closest thing that CSU has to a senior are juniors Burke Schultz and Ismail Ismail. The rest of the roster is almost evenly split with eight freshmen and nine sophomores.
ONE-GOAL SETBACKS: One trend that appears to have carried over from last season for the Vikings is their hard luck in league contests. Three of the five CSU league losses have come by a single goal, including a 1-0 loss on Sept. 28 to UW-Milwaukee, a team that won both the Horizon League regular season and championship titles a year ago. The Vikings have also dropped one-goal decisions to UIC (2-1 in overtime) and 3-2 on Sunday at Detroit. Last year, CSU was 0-3-1 in one-goal matches in league play, tying UIC (1-1) while falling to Wright State (2-1), UW-Green Bay (1-0 in OT) and UW-Milwaukee (1-0 in OT).
DeMARCO SOLID IN NET: Freshman goalkeeper Anthony DeMarco continues to turn in strong performances for the Vikings. He has made eight or more saves in six of the last nine matches, including a career-high 13 stops against UW-Milwaukee on Sept. 29. He ranked third in the nation in saves (77) and fourth in saves per game (7.7) in the latest NCAA statistics (through matches played Oct. 9) and enters the week leading the Horizon League in both saves (90) and saves per game (6.9).
. . . AND DeMARCO APPROACHES VIKING TOP 10: With 90 saves heading into the week, freshman goalie Anthony DeMarco needs just eight saves to break into the top 10 for saves in a season at CSU and 10 saves to become the 10th goalie to record 100 or more stops in one season. Jason Krnac holds the Viking record with 132 saves in 1993. DeMarco needs eight saves to catch Amir Kettani (2004) and just 17 to move as high as sixth (107 by Jay Longsworth in 1981).
AN INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: The 2005 Vikings have members that hail from six different countries, including citizens from the United States, Canada, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand and Norway. In addition, two of the three CSU coaches are from the United Kingdom in head coach Pete Curtis and graduate assistant Steve Kehoe.
NEXT UP: The Vikings take to the road for the final two matches of the regular season when they play at Bowling Green (Oct. 26) and Loyola (Oct. 30).
