Oct. 18, 2009
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Valparaiso scored a pair of second half goals just 32 seconds apart as the Crusaders shut out Cleveland State, 2-0, on Senior Day on Sunday afternoon at Krenzler Field.
The loss drops the Vikings to 3-12-1 on the year and 2-4-1 in league play. Valparaiso improves to 7-8-1 overall and 4-3 in league action.
More importantly, the Vikings remain in seventh place in the Horizon League standings with seven points (three points for a win, one point for a tie) with just one match to go. Only the top six teams advance to the league championship
"Today was a very frustrating match because I didn't think that we came out and gave it our best effort," CSU head coach Derrek Falor said. "Maybe playing in the cold and rain on Friday took more out of us than I thought but it just seemed like we were a step slow and lost every battle for the ball.
"We like to control the ball at our feet and our goal was to get the ball out to the wings today but we never were able to accomplish that. Our midfielders were over-run early which nullified our advantage on the wing.
"The loss means a lot in the conference race because if we had won today, we'd be in. Now we have to go to Youngstown State and win and hope that the rest of the cards fall in place for us to make the field. That is unfortunate," Falor added.
Valparaiso came out and controlled play early, launching five shots on goal in the first 15 minutes that Viking goalie Kelly Zinkiewich was able to stop. CSU got its offense going after that, creating several scoring opportunities in the final 30 minutes of the half, going into the intermission with a scoreless tie.
The tied turned shortly after the start of the second half when Valpo's Luisa DeSario took a pass from Janine Lytle and beat Zinkiewich high to the far side to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead at the 50:36 mark.
Just 32 seconds later, the Crusaders caught the Vikings napping on defense when Rachel Hoaglin blasted a shot from 30 yards out that beat Zinkiewich high and into the net to put Valparaiso ahead, 2-0.
The Vikings could not muster much of a comeback after that as Valpo held CSU to without a shot in the second half and an 18-3 shot advantage for the match.
Zinkiewich made 10 saves in goal for CSU while Valpo's Mele Cabral made two saves to record the shutout.
"Kelly did a nice job in goal again today," Falor said. "Our defense wasn't as tight as it has been and that allowed Valpo a number of really good scoring opportunities that Kelly had to clean up."
Cleveland State closes the regular season with a pair of matches this week, traveling to Canisius for a non-conference tilt on Wednesday (Oct. 21) before closing the league slate at Youngstown State on Sunday (Oct. 25).
