Oct. 24, 2005
Contact: Brian McCann
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Match 16
Cleveland State (0-14-1) at Bowling Green (2-12-2)
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005
Time: 3:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Cochrane Field (1,500), Bowling Green, Ohio
Series: CSU Leads, 13-11-1
Last Meeting: CSU 2, BGSU 2, (10/16/03, Cleveland, Ohio)
Match 17
Cleveland State (0-14-1, 0-6) at Loyola (6-7-2, 3-1)
Date: Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005
Time: 1:00 p.m. CDT
Site: Loyola Soccer Park (500), Chicago, Ill.
Series: Series Tied, 5-5
Last Meeting: Loyola 2, CSU 0, (10/20/04, Mentor, Ohio)
SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State closes the regular season with a pair of matches on the road this week. The Vikings will step away from league play for a 3:00 p.m. match at Bowling Green on Wednesday (Oct. 26) and then close its league slate with a 1:00 p.m. CDT contest at Loyola on Sunday, Oct. 30. CSU begins the week assured of being the No. 8 seed at next week's Horizon League Championship.
REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings played a pair of matches last week, including a Horizon League home match against Wright State. Here is a synopsis of those contests:
Match 14: Wright State 3, CSU 1 (Oct. 19, Krenzler Field)
Wright State scored a pair of goals in an eight-minute span early in the second half to break a 1-1 halftime tie and pull away for the win. Nenad Stojkovic scored CSU's lone goal to tie the match at 1-1. Anthony DeMarco made six saves in goal.
Match 15: Valparaiso 5, CSU 2 (Oct. 23, Krenzler Field)
After playing to a draw through the first 45 minutes, Valparaiso scored four second half goals to claim a 5-2 win. Nenad Stojkovic scored his team-leading fifth goal -- and fourth in the last six games -- and Kim Kroken scored his first career goal but it was not enough.
PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: The Vikings have born some resemblence to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this season defensively, especially over the last handful of matches. CSU has led or been tied at halftime in each of the last five matches, but the Vikings have gone 0-5 during those contests. Freshman Nenad Stojkovic has emerged as the squad's offensive leader, scoring goals in four of the last six games to lead the team with 11 points this year (5G, 1A). Another 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. Freshman netminder Anthony DeMarco continues to show improvement, entering the week led the Horizon League in both saves (96) and saves per match (6.9) while ranking among the top five nationally in both categories.
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.
GETTING THE SCORING NENAD: Freshman forward Nenad Stojkovic is finishing the regular season on a strong note. He scored in both matches last week increase his team-leading scoring total to 11 points. In fact, the freshman from Parma Heights, Ohio has scored at least one goal in four of the last six matches, giving him five goals this year.
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 Oct. 6 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 10 matches, including a career-high 13 stops against UW-Milwaukee on Sept. 29. He led the nation in saves (90) and was fourth in saves per game (6.92) in the latest NCAA statistics (through matches played Oct. 16). He added six saves against Wright State on Wednesday and now has 96 stops this year.
. . . AND DeMARCO APPROACHES VIKING TOP 10: With 96 saves heading into the week, freshman goalie Anthony DeMarco needs just two saves to break into the top 10 for saves in a season at CSU and four 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 two saves to catch Amir Kettani (2004) and just 11 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 will begin play in the 2005 Horizon League Championship as the No. 8 seed and will play their first round match on Saturday, Nov. 5 at the regular season champion, which will either be Detroit or UW-Milwaukee.
