Sept. 26, 2006
Contact: Brian McCann
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Robert Morris scored a pair of first half goals and then played solid second half defense as the Colonials claimed a 2-0 win over Cleveland State on Tuesday (Sept. 26) at the North Athletic Complex on the RMU campus.
The loss, Cleveland State's ninth straight, drops the Vikings to 1-9 while Robert Morris improves to 4-5.
This is a difficult loss to take," CSU head coach Derrek Falor said. "We controlled play for the first 30 minutes or so but when Robert Morris scored, we seemed to panic and abandon doing the things we need to do to create offense. We reverted to playing kick ball and that isn't good."
Robert Morris opened the scoring in the 39th minute when RMU's Kelly Hilderbrand played the ball ahead through the Viking defense to Stephanie Kuhn, who continued the run on goal, scoring from 10 yards out.
"That was a nice play," Falor said. "They split our defenders with the pass and then she (Kuhn) was able to stay a half-step ahead of our defense and practically go one-on-one to goal."
The Colonials put their final marker on the board in the 42nd minute when Jessica DeSantis drilled a direct free kick from 22 yards out in the upper left corner of the goal to beat Viking netminder Erin Withrow for her first career goal.
"The second goal was almost impossible for Erin to stop," Falor said. "Robert Morris hit the ball well and put it in a spot that Erin couldn't reach."
Robert Morris had a 17-10 edge in shots with Withrow making a season-high 10 saves in goal to keep the Vikings in the match. Colonial goalies Jessica Onufer and Elizabeth Moss combined to make four saves in posting the shutout.
One bright spot for the Vikings was the play of sophomore Abbie Kakias, who returned to the lineup after sitting out the last three matches with a knee injury that was first thought to be season-ending. Kakias, who moved to forward for the match after playing on defense in the first six contests, had three shots in approximately 30 minutes of action.
Cleveland State continues its road swing with matches at Detroit on Friday (Sept. 29) and Butler on Sunday (Oct. 1).
