Aug. 22, 2010
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jessica McCloy completed her comeback from a knee injury that shortened her 2009 season to just two matches by scoring the decisive goal as Cleveland State led from wire-to-wire to claim a 3-2 win over Marshall on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 22) at Krenzler Field.
The win marked just second time in seven seasons that the Vikings won their season opener, giving head coach Derrek Falor some reinforcement to the positive outlook that he had coming out of preseason.
"We came out today and did exactly what we wanted to do," Falor said. "We said going in that we needed to do a better job of finding the forwards and creating scoring opportunities, especially from set plays and we did just that.
"We had a lot of energy early and we created a couple of opportunities on through balls that I think in the future, we will capitalize on, but we aren't there offensively yet. Still, the pressure created shots and the shots led to a couple of goals.
The Vikings opened the scoring at the 11:44 mark when sophomore defender Valerie Stahl headed home a cornerkick from Jessica Bound. Bound launched the corner from the left corner and found Stahl about eight yards out towards the backside of the goal, who quickly redirected the cross into the right corner of the goal.
"It was good to see a goal off a set play," Falor said. "We've worked hard during preseason at both ends of the field on set plays because that was an area of weakness last year. If we are going to play to our ability this year, we will need to score more goals on set plays than we allow."
The Vikings kept the pressure on the Thundering Herd, owning a 9-4 edge in shots in the first half. The pressure paid off as junior Natalie Daniels put CSU ahead, 2-0, at the 38:35 mark when she controlled a cross from Samantha Salamon and blasted a shot past Marshall netminder Caroline Harwell.
The goal showed the growing potency of the CSU attack as Salamon, who had entered the contest a few minutes earlier, took over the ball on the left side and lofted a nice cross to Daniels, who was open on the far side of the goal. Before the Thundering Herd defense could adjust, Daniels redirected the cross into the right corner of the goal.
The tide seemed to turn at the half as Marshall applied greater offensive pressure and the long runs that the Vikings thrived on in the opening stanza, were diminished.
Marshall pulled to within 2-1 in the 61st minute when Katie Ball headed a cross from Angela Desumma into the net.
CSU came right back and scored the back-breaker. Freshman Taylor Miller carried the ball down the right sideline and launched a cross towards goal that Harwell appeared in position to catch, but McCloy slid in front of her, almost went airborn to get her head on the low-approaching shot and slipped the header into the goal from 20 yards out.
The goal was a triumph for McCloy, who was granted a rare sixth season of eligibility from the NCAA after missing all but two matches last year following the second major knee injury of her career.
"A team gets to be good because seniors usually make plays and Jess really made a great play on that cross," Falor said. "The goal not only gave us an emotional jump after Marshall had scored, but it also helped us because we have all seen the sacrifices that Jessica has made to get back on the field.
"I joked with Jess earlier in the week that she was going to get a goal today because I just had a hunch. She made it happen however and it was great to see her back on the field. We may have more talented players out there, but none have the heart and leadership that she does," Falor added.
Marshall refused to back down and continues to apply the pressure, pulling back to within a goal when DeSumma scored an easy goal after she missed a penalty kick in the 76th minute.
With the Thundering Herd on the attack, the ball was played into the middle where Viking netminder Kelly Zinkiewich moved to intercept. As she did so, a CSU defender was called for a penalty, with the penalty kick being awarded. DeSumma played the kick to the right corner of the goal, but Zinkiewich reacted quickly, deflecting the shot away. The ball took a Marshall bounce as DeSumma beat the CSU defense to the goal and she played it past a helpless Zinkiewich into the left side of the goal.
"That was a tough play. Kelly (Zinkiewich) made the right play and stopped the penalty kick, but we didn't have enough time to cover and clear the ball off the line," Falor said.
The goal sparked the Vikings as CSU found its offense again and denied the Thundering Herd the equalizing goal by playing the majority of the final 14 minutes in the Marshall end.
"I told the team at halftime that even though we had a lead, that they were going to play to pressure in the second half and it took us awhile to react. We let them bring the play to us instead of attacking them like we did in the first half," Falor said.
"I think the goal after the penalty kick gave us just the right kick and the kids decided that that was enough and that we weren't going to let this match get away from us. We played smart soccer in the final minutes, controlling the ball and finding open spaces to keep them from attacking."
Despite allowing a pair of goals, Zinkiewich was stellar in goal making seven saves to record the win.
"Kelly has played tough going back to last spring," Falor said. "I think she has realized that she is a senior and this is it and she doesn't want a repeat of last year. She knows that she will play a large role in our success and she is ready."
The shot totals were even at 14 for the match with Marshall owning a 10-5 edge in the second half. Harwell recorded five saves for the Thundering Herd.
The win comes after two scoreless exhibition games over the previous week in which CSU went 0-1-1.
"Scoring three goals today is a great sign," Falor said. "It was interesting that two of the goals came from defenders, but our forwards had a good impact in the match."
CSU will continue its season-opening five-match home stand when Gannon visits Krenzler Field on Friday (Aug. 27) at 7:00 p.m. Kent State follows with a visit for a 1:00 p.m. contest on Sunday (Aug. 29).
