Oct. 24, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Jessica McCloy headed home a corner kick from Natalie Daniels just 91 seconds into overtime to give Cleveland State a 2-1 win over Youngstown State on Friday night at on a rain swept Krenzler Field.
The win extended CSU's school record for wins in a season to seven, improving to 7-9-1 overall and 2-4-1 in Horizon League play. YSU slips to 4-12-1 overall and 0-6-1 in league play.
"Winning tonight's match is a great example of how far this program has come," CSU head coach Derrek Falor said. "Playing with all of the distractions like cold and bad weather, we were disciplined enough to keep our shape and not let any balls get past us on defense.
"We played as well defensively tonight as we have at any time over the last couple of seasons. We did a great job of defending on the ball and stopping their attacks.
With a steady rain falling throughout the match and a strong swirling wind from the south creating an advantage to the team attacking at the north goal, the Vikings dominated play during the opening half though the play only resulted in a slight 4-3 edge in shots.
Cleveland State opened the scoring at the 36:44 mark when Sylvia Olsby scored off a header from 10 yards outs. The play started with Abbie Kakias serving a ball from the right wing following a foul. Danielle Ultican got a foot on the ball after it bounced once, nudging it to Olsby who was able to head it into the back corner of the goal.
The Vikings were unable to maintain the lead as Youngstown State tied the match with just 52 seconds left in the first half. A ball was played into the middle from the wing and a Viking defender misplayed it while attempting to clear it. The ball landed at the feet of Lauren Brennan, who blasted it home from 15 yards out on the left side of the goal.
"That was one of the few balls all night that we misplayed and it cost us," Falor said. "We had a chance to clear it, but we just didn't get a good enough clear to get it back out of the box."
Despite playing the second half into the wind, the Vikings offense did a nice job of keeping the ball on the ground and attacking the Penguin defense. CSU had a 6-3 shooting edge in the second half and 10-7 for the match.
Both teams had good scoring opportunities, but none better than by Youngstown State's Jordan Gapczynski, who had a pair of long runs at the Viking goal but was stymied both times by CSU netminder Kelly Zinkiewich before she could get a shot off. Gapczynski finished the match with six of YSU's seven shots, all of which were on goal.
"Kelly did a nice job on those attacks of coming off her line and stopping those runs," Falor said. "They were game-saving stops."
The overtime period didn't last long as the Vikings, who were playing into the wind, forced a cornerkick in the opening minute of the extra session. Natalie Daniels served the kick into the middle of the box where McCloy, who was unmarked, put her head on it and directed it into the middle of the goal.
"We couldn't have scripted the play any better," Falor said. "Natalie put the ball into a position where one of our attackers could get to it and make a play. It is just how we practice them."
The goal was the first of the season for McCloy, who felt redeemed by it.
"Youngstown State scored its only goal because Jessica was unable to clear the ball and she was upset about it at halftime," Falor said. "I told her to keep her head in the game because she was going to get a chance to make up for the play. Sure enough, the chance came and she made up for the mistake in a big way."
The assist on the goal was the fifth of the year for Daniels, who raised her team-leading scoring total to 13 points.
Zinkiewich made six saves in goal to record the win for CSU.
With one match left in the league schedule, Cleveland State will need to win on Sunday at Butler in order to improve on its current No. 7 seed. Anything besides a win will send the Vikings to a second round tournament match at No. 2 seed Milwaukee on Sunday, Nov. 2.
A win at Butler, combined with either a loss or tie by Valparaiso at Milwaukee will push CSU past the Crusaders and into the No. 6 seed. The Vikings then would face either Detroit or Wright State in the second round.
The Butler match will take place beginning at 12 noon on Sunday (Oct. 26).
