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Contact: Kevin Zeise
Oct. 20, 2003
CLEVELAND - The Cleveland State men's soccer team will finish the home portion of the season on Friday, Oct. 24, when Butler visits Krenzler Field for a 7 p.m. Horizon League matchup. Before the showdown with the Bulldogs, however, CSU will travel to Fort Wayne, Ind., for a 7 p.m. match with IPFW on Tuesday, October 21.
About the Vikings
Cleveland State (6-8-1, 2-3 Horizon) enters the week in fifth place in the Horizon League, one spot out of hosting a league quarterfinal match. A win over Butler on Friday would put CSU in a tie with Wright State for the fourth seed in the tournament.
No. 12 Notre Dame 6, CSU 0 - The Vikings suffered their worst defeat of the season at the hands of the nationally ranked Irish at Krenzler Field. Notre Dame scored three times in each half as the Vikings were shut out for the third straight match.
CSU 2, Bowling Green 2 (2OT) - Cleveland State snapped a five game losing skid by rallying to earn a draw with Bowling Green at Krenzler Field. David Prentice (North Curl Curl, Australia/St. Pius X) and Stephen Ademolu (Windsor, Ontario, Canada/Herman) each collected a second-half goal to give the Vikings their first tie in their last 70 matches.
About IPFW
IPFW enters Tuesday's match with the Vikings carrying a 5-8-1 record after falling 2-0 to Northwestern on Sunday. The Mastodons have gone 2-1 against Horizon League teams this fall, owning wins over UW-Green Bay and Detroit and falling to Butler. IPFW is 0-4-1 over its last five games.
About Butler
The Bulldogs hold a 7-6-3 record on the year, including a 3-1-1 mark in the Horizon League. Butler defeated Wright State, 1-0, on Sunday, putting them in third place in the league with games against CSU and Detroit remaining. John Mariscalco leads the Bulldogs with 13 points on six goals and one assist.
Series Notes
Cleveland State and IPFW will be meeting for just the third time, with the two schools splitting the two previous meetings. CSU won the opener in 2001 in Fort Wayne, Ind., before IPFW claimed last year's matchup at Krenzler Field. The Vikings edged Butler last year, 2-1, to snap an 11-match losing streak against the Bulldogs.
Head Coach Pete Curtis
In his fourth season as head coach, Pete Curtis has a record of 22-47-2. 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 a career record of 118-135-12 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.
Tying One On
The Oct. 16 draw with Bowling Green was the first tie in over three and a half years for the Vikings. The last tie came on Sept. 1, 2000, against Western Michigan in Pete Curtis' first game as head coach. In between ties, the Vikings have had just five games go into overtime and be decided in the extra sessions.
Rally Time
The Oct. 16 tie with Bowling Green was another in a series of memorable come-from-behind games for the Vikings this season. Trailing 2-0 with 20 minutes to play, the Vikings scored twice in five minutes to even the score and send the game to overtime, where it ended deadlocked. Cleveland State also rallied from a 2-1 deficit with two goals in the final 10 minutes to defeat Pittsburgh on Sept. 24, and came back three times before ultimately claiming a 5-4 win against UIC on Sept. 20.
Senior Salute
Friday's home match with Butler will mark the final regular-season game at Krenzler Field for three seniors. Defenders Benny Eck (Ottendorf, Germany/Friedrich-Fischer-Schule), Jim Sears (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay) and Matteo Zappa (Cleveland, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) have played a combined 145 matches for Cleveland State, starting 138 of them.
A Rough Month
The month of October has not been kind to Cleveland State. After going 6-2 in September, including winning four straight matches on the road, the Vikings dropped their first four games in October before snapping that skid with Thursday's tie with Bowling Green. CSU scored 20 goals in September before seeing the offense struggle this month, tallying just three goals in the last five games.
Following The Leader
The Viking offense continues to center around junior forward Stephen Ademolu. Cleveland State is 6-0-1 in games where Ademolu scores at least one goal, but is 0-8 in games where he does not score. Ademolu has 25 points on the season on 11 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 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 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.
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 wrap up the regular season with a pair of matches on the road. October 28 finds the Vikings making the short trip down I-77 to take on Akron before finishing the regular season with a November 1 match at UW-Green Bay.
