Aug. 18, 2010

Contact: Brian McCann

NIAGARA, N.Y. - Cleveland State closed out its abbreviated exhibition schedule on Wednesday afternoon when the Vikings battled through 90 minutes of play to tie Niagara, 0-0.

CSU closes the preseason with an 0-1-1 mark, including a 1-0 loss at Pittsburgh on Aug. 14.

"This was a real good match for us and even though the outcome was a tie, I thought that we did a nice job of controlling play," CSU head coach Derrek Falor said. "Our defense was outstanding all afternoon and even though they were a very quick team, we were able to keep them away from the goal.

"I don't think we allowed more than six or seven shots in the game and Kelly (Zinkiewich) only had to make two or three routine saves to record the shutout. They tried to take advantage of their quickness by playing a lot of through balls, by the integrity of our defense held and Kelly was smart coming off of her line to stop some attacks.

"Offensively, we were much improved today and even though we didn't punch one in, it was just some unfortunate luck that kept us from scoring a couple of goals," Falor added.

The Vikings came out of the locker room ready to play and the early portion of the match showed. In the 10th minute, sophomore Jaime Avona put her head on an attacking corner kick and the ball glanced off the crossbar before being cleared by the Niagara defense.

Four minutes later, senior Marley Greiner launched a shot from 30 yards out that just off the mark and cleared the crossbar.

"Those were two pretty good chances early in the match," Falor said. "Jaime was in perfect position but just didn't keep her header low enough."

The opening minutes of the second half saw the Vikings hit the cross bar again, this time it was freshman Taylor Vidovic, whose shot from 15 yards out beat the Purple Eagle goalkeeper but found the crossbar on the far side of the goal.

CSU had another strong scoring opportunity in the 70th minute when Valerie Stahl broke free on a corner kick and redirected the cross towards the goal, but the Niagara defense was able to react and clear the ball off the line.

"I thought we had them on both chances because we were in the right spot and played the ball well both times, but we were just unfortunate," Falor said.

The rest of the match was played even and the two sides elected not to play the overtime period.

"I didn't think that we had anything to prove by playing the overtime and we had accomplished what we wanted to work on during the match," Falor said.

"After letting up an early goal at Pitt last week, our defense really regrouped and didn't allow a goal over the final 154 minutes of the exhibition games and that is a great sign.

Falor singled out the midfield play of junior Natalie Daniels, who helped CSU dominate play in the midfield. "Natalie was awesome today. She created about five turnovers around the midfield and did a nice job of moving the ball forward to find the forwards," Falor said.

"Last year we tried to build our confidence by playing two lesser opponents during the preseason and when the regular season started, we weren't ready. The two matches we played this year have helped us to get ready for next Sunday and I am confident that when we do open up the season, there will be no surprises," Falor added.

The Vikings will now have three days of practice to get ready for their 2010 season opener when they hosts Marshall on Sunday, Aug. 22 beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.