Aug. 7, 2011
Contact: Greg Murphy
AKRON, Ohio - The Cleveland State women's soccer team dropped its exhibition opener on Sunday afternoon at Akron, 4-0, as the Zips used an early goal and three late ones to earn the win.
"While this wasn't the result we were hoping for, I think we were able to get a chance to take a look at everybody on the roster as we played 24 players," head coach Derrek Falor said. "I think we got some answers that some people are ready to play, while others might need a little more work, but a lot of these things can be fixed with another week of training.
"I thought we played well for the first 20 minutes, but after we gave up the first goal, we got away from our game plan and got out of rhythm. The thing we need to take away from this match is that we can't ever stop working hard, no matter what the circumstances are. We have to come away from this match and realize that a result like this is not acceptable."
Katie Wise gave Akron a 1-0 lead with a goal at the 16:29 mark. It stayed that way until the 68:43 mark when Ashley Hughes put the Zips up 2-0. Hughes struck again less than 13 minutes later before Karina Atkinson scored the final goal with just under three minutes to play.
"We didn't do any of the things that made us a successful team last year," Falor said. "We were sloppy with set pieces, we were not the more physical team and we didn't play good possession soccer. And we have to find some people up front who can be dangerous with the ball and finish."
The Vikings will play their second and final exhibition game of the preseason on Saturday (Aug. 13) when CSU heads to Oakland for a 1:00 p.m. match.
