Aug. 18, 2005
Contact: Brian McCann
MENTOR, Ohio -- The Cleveland State Viking women's soccer team opened up its brief two-match exhibition season with a promising 2-1 loss to Mercyhurst College on Thursday night at Lost Nation Park.
Unlike a year ago when CSU was dramatically outplayed by the Lakers in a 3-1 exhibition loss, the Vikings rebounded from a slow first 30-minute period to play strong for the last 60 minutes and turned in some of their best offensive statistics in the short history of the women's soccer program.
"It is obvious from our play tonight that 2004 is a distant memory," head coach Derrek Falor said. "Even though we have had less than a week to get ready for this match, I thought that our performance was way ahead of our best effort last season.
"Our defense played pretty well. We were able to hold our shape and stay compact, even though we probably had just one starter on the field."
The Vikings played the match short-handed, dressing just 13 players -- including two goalkeepers -- for the contest. CSU went even further down when freshman Missy Boehm was knocked out of the match in the 15th minute of the first period when she bumped heads with a Mercyhurst opponent. That forced the 10 position players to play the remaining 75 minutes.
"I was pretty happy with our conditioning," Falor said. "Playing 90 minutes in the heat so early in the season is a lot to ask, but we were able to play hard and not show much fatigue until the final minutes. That is a good sign."
Mercyhurst took a 2-0 lead in the opening stanza. Lisa Casemont opened the scoring when she headed home a corner kick from Sarah Powell at the 6:07 mark.
The Lakers added their second goal in the 29th minute when Jacque Sluga scored on a penalty kick after CSU was called for a penalty inside the box.
The Vikings turned their effort around after that, beginning to take control of the midfield area and create offensive opportunities while the defense limited the Laker offensive chances.
CSU broke onto the scoreboard at the 48:57 mark when a pair of freshmen teamed up on a goal. Ashley Walchack's header of a cross from the Angela Kormos beat Laker goalie Karen Eade to the upper left corner.
"Ashley has had a pretty good week of practice and her play tonight showed it," Falor said. "She adds a little flair and creativity to the offense and is extremely effective playing in front of the goal."
Despite being outshot, 15-14, the offensive performance of the Vikings showed promise. CSU only took 14 shots or more in one of the 20 matches last year and the nine shots on goal would also have been second-best.
"The offense showed a lot of promise tonight and the more this group plays together, we will be able to take better advantage of these opportunities.
The Vikings close out their exhibition season on Sunday (Aug. 21) with a 1:00 p.m. match at Robert Morris. CSU then opens the 2005 campaign the following Sunday (Aug. 28) at Kent State.
"We should get a couple of players back for this weekend and then be pretty much back at full strength for the start of the regular season.
