Oct. 12, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Sylvia Olsby and Jennifer Wieand each scored goals and Natalie Daniels had a pair of assists as Cleveland State snapped a five-match winless streak with a 2-0 victory over IUPUI on Sunday afternoon at Krenzler Field.
CSU improves to 5-8-1 on the season, tying the 2007 squad's school record for wins (5) in a season. IUPUI, who entered the contest having won four straight matches, slips to 7-6.
"I thought the difference in the match was our ability to pressure them early and not let them get into the flow of their offense," CSU head coach Derrek Falor said. "They had a big win for the program on Friday when they won at Oakland and we knew that they would be riding a high today and we had to shut it down.
"We did a great job of executing the plan. We won all the balls at midfield and when they moved into the scoring zone, our defenders pressed and shut them down.
"Once we added the second goal, we dropped back and made them come to us. Then it was just a matter of shutting down their attacks and taking the play the other way."
The Vikings opened the scoring at the 11:07 mark when Olsby notched her second goal of the season off a cornerkick. Abbie Kakias launched the kick from the left corner and Daniels was able to head the ball from the far side of the goal towards the middle. Olsby gathered the header in and launched a shot into the lower right corner of the goal.
"We have struggled lately to create opportunities off of set plays, but Natalie and Abbie did a nice job of setting things up and Sylvia finished," Falor said.
Although the Vikings had a 6-0 edge in shots in the first half, the totals were not indicative of play as the Jaguars continually had the ball in the CSU defensive half of the field but the Viking defense stepped up each time to make a play.
CSU made it 2-0 just eight minutes into the second half when Jennifer Wieand scored from 15 yards out after making a long run down the left middle third. On the play, possession changed abruptly just inside the midfield mark when Daniels made a steal and promptly fed the ball up to Wieand, who slipped between a pair of defenders before launching the shot from just inside the circle.
"Jenni made a nice play by going to the opening and Natalie found her," Falor said. "After that, instinct took over."
The goal was the 12th of Wieand's career, allowing her to tie Shayna Back's school record.
Sophomore Shannon Saunders, who was making her third straight start for the injured Kelly Zinkiewich, made four saves to record her first career shutout.
"Shannon played well today," Falor said. "She didn't have too many hard chances, but she organized the defense and played off her line well."
The Vikings will take to the road next week for matches at Green Bay on Friday (Oct. 17) and Valparaiso on Sunday (Oct. 19) before returning home for Senior Night against Youngstown State on Friday, Oct. 24.
