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Men's Soccer Faces UIC In The Quarterfinals Of The Horizon League Championship

Men's Soccer Faces UIC In The Quarterfinals Of The Horizon League Championship
Posted: Nov 09, 2009

Nov. 9, 2009

Contact: Renee Adam

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Match 19
2009 Horizon League Championship
UIC (6-6-6, 3-3-2 HL) at Cleveland State (7-7-4, 4-2-2 HL)
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Krenzler Field (400), Cleveland, Ohio
Series: CSU leads, 17-13-3
Last Meeting: CSU 1, UIC 1 (2OT) (9/27/09)at Krenzler Field

SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State men's soccer team will begin the 2009 Horizon League Championship when the Vikings host UIC on Tuesday (Nov. 10) at 7:00 p.m. in the quarterfinal match. The Vikings enter the tournament with a 7-7-4 overall record and 4-2-2 in league play.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings were in action once over the past weekend. Here is a review of that contest:

Match 18: Valparaiso 2, CSU 1 (Nov. 7, Eastgate Field)
Anthony Baraldi scored the lone Viking goal early in the second half when he beat the Crusader goalie from 10 yards out to the far post off a pass from Admir Suljevic. Ten minutes later Valparaiso would come back to record two goals in five minutes giving them the 2-1 victory. Brad Stuver made six saves during the contest allowing two goals.

2009 SEASON PREVIEW: With 11 seniors returning, including nine that have been in the 2009 starting lineup so far, the Vikings have experience and depth on the field this season. 2008 all-league first team honoree senior Slavisa Ubiparipovic returns up front, and leads the team in points (15), is tied for the lead in assists (5) and is second on the team in goals (5). He is joined up front by freshmen Aaron Adkins (4g, 2a, 10pts) and Admir Suljevic (3g, 5a, 11pts) who both earned high school All-America honors following their senior campaigns, giving the Vikings a loaded front row. Experience is the key to the midfield this season, as all three starters return: Marco DiFranco, who is tied for first on the team with five assists, Josh Williams who leads the team in goals with six, adding two assists for 14 points and Kevin Malone. The entire defense returns for 2009 after posting six shutouts last season. Leading the charge are seniors Eric Tattersall, Mitch Boyer (1g, 2pts) and Anthony Baraldi (1g, 2pts) and junior Audric Kilroy (1a, 1pts). They have played in a combined 57 matches this season, allowing just 24 goals. Freshman Brad Stuver has played in 12 matches as goalie this season posting 51 saves, two shutouts and a 1.08 GAA, while Nick Harpel has played in nine contests, recording 38 saves, a 1.12 GAA and three shutouts. Backing up Stuver and Harpel is freshman Almir Suljevic (4 saves).

STUVER GOES 300: Freshman goalkeeper Brad Stuver had gone an even 300 minutes without allowing a goal before Valparaiso's Adrian Ortiz put one past Stuver in the 66th minute of action last Saturday. During the span, Stuver made 16 saves over four matches. The streak began at Pittsburgh (10/21) when he didn't allow a goal during the last 34 minutes of play. Stuver is currently first in the Horizon League with an .823 save percentage and fifth with a 1.09 GAA, one of only three true freshmen to be ranked in both categories.

PEOPLE'S CHOICE: Not only was senior defender Mitch Boyer chosen as the Horizon League men's soccer player of the week for Oct. 26-Nov. 1 he also won the "People's Choice Award" for the week. To be elgible for the award you must win your respective sports athlete of the week honor and receive the most fan votes on the Horizon League Network's site. Boyer was up against Kate Megna (Milwaukee, women's soccer), Holly Visser (Green Bay, volleyball) and Natalie Pounovich (UIC, volleyball) for the poeple's choice award last week. After sitting out five matches due to injury, Boyer returned to the lineup to lead the Viking defense to their sixth shutout of the season, when they beat Horizon League regular season champion, Butler 1-0.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: The Vikings will once again put their Krenzler Field 13 match unbeaten streak on the line when UIC comes to town on Tuesday. Over the past two seasons the Vikings have defeated or tied 12 different teams, playing only Wright State twice at home last season. This would mark only the second time in school history that CSU has been unbeaten at home in consecutive seasons, the first dating back to the 1969 and 1970 seasons when the Vikings went a combined 10-0 at home. But, it would be the first time that CSU has been undefeated at home in two straight seasons since the 1985 season when Krenzler Field was built.

...LEAGUE ADVANTAGE: The Vikings are one of only three Horizon League teams that are unbeaten on their home fields this season. Butler (6-0-0) and Green Bay (7-0-1) are the other two teams to remain undefeated at home. Butler and Cleveland State both have home matches remaining this season, as Butler will host the 2009 Horizon League tournament at Varsity Field giving them a chance to extend their streak to 8-0-0, while CSU has the opportunity to go 5-0-1. Last year CSU was the lone team to go undeafeted at home throughout the entire season (6-0-1).

TRIPLE THREAT: Seniors Slavisa Ubiparipovic and Marco DiFranco and freshman Admir Suljevic are tied for the lead on the team with five assists each. The Vikings have gone 10-3-1 this season when one of the three records an assist, and 4-1 when two of three record assists in the same match. The only Viking to record more assists over the last four years was Andrew Gutting who posted six assists during the 2006 season.

SECOND HALF GOALS: CSU has had much luck putting the ball into the back of the net during the second half of play this season, with 15 out of the 23 goals (.652) coming during the last 45 minutes of play. This marks the highest percentage of second half goals over the past four seasons.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: Eleven Vikings have recorded at least one point this season, with six seniors, two sophomores, two freshmen and one junior have posting the points. The seniors lead the way with Slavisa Ubiparipovic recording 15 points, Josh Williams tallying 14, Marco DiFranco with five, Stephen Byer with three and Mitch Boyer and Anthony Baraldi with two each. Audric Kilroy is the lone junior, recording one point, while sophomore Justin Mancine has five and classmate John Wargo has tallied one. The freshmen duo of Admir Suljevic and Aaron Adkins have recorded 11 and 10 points respectively in their first season as Vikings.

RIGHT ON TARGET: The Vikings were picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll coming into 2009, and with the tiebreaker with Valparaiso CSU finished the regular season as the fourth seed, the only team to finish the regular season in the same spot as they were picked to finish. Butler is the only top three team to actual finish in the top half of the tournament seeding, with UIC and Loyola ending the season in fifth and ninth place when they were selected to finish one-two.

HL CHAMPIONSHIP REPEAT: This week the Vikings will attempt to make it to the title match for just the second time since the 2002 season. Last year the Vikings made it to the championship match after beating Wright State at home, 2-1 and Butler on the road, 1-0. CSU lost a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to Loyola, ending the tournament as the Horison League runner-up. 2002 also marks the last time that UIC and Cleveland State have meet in the tournament, with CSU topping the Flames, 5-3 to move onto the championship contest.

NEXT UP: With a win, the Vikings will face either Butler or Green Bay in the semi-finals on Friday (Nov. 13) at 12:00 Noon or 2:30 p.m. in Indianapolis, Indiana.