June 8, 2011
Contact: Dan Carr
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Nine home matches, including a contest against defending Horizon League champion Milwaukee, and road games at Wyoming and the Air Force Academy highlight the Cleveland State women's soccer team's 2011 schedule.
"We built this schedule with the goal of winning a Horizon League championship," head coach Derrek Falor said. "We're playing a number of historically sound teams, and in every game we will be challenged to play our best. Last year we were one narrow loss away from winning the regular season league crown, and I believe this schedule will prepare us to get over that hump and win a championship."
The Vikings will open their home slate against Duquesne on Aug. 21 and will host Bowling Green (Sept. 2) and Ohio (Sept. 4) in early non-conference matches before opening Horizon League play at home against Milwaukee on Sept. 16.
The contest with Milwaukee will begin a three-match home stand with the Vikings welcoming IUPUI to Krenzler Field on Sept. 18 and Notre Dame College on Sept. 22. Cleveland State also has home matches against Horizon League opponents Loyola (Sept. 30), Youngstown State (Oct. 19) and Detroit (Oct. 23).
The most notable non-conference games will be a road swing out west to play Wyoming on Sept. 9 and the Air Force Academy on the 10th anniversary of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
That latter game is particularly significant to Falor, who lost family members during the attacks. A special ceremony will be held prior to the game to honor the memories of those who fell and to commemorate the members of the United States armed services all across the world.
"It had been my goal to play at a service academy on that day for a while now," Falor said. "Besides the special meaning for myself, I think it will be a great experience for our team. Most of the women on the squad were in second, third or fourth grade when that event took place. This will give them a bigger perspective on the game and on life."
Those matches will be the first weekend road contests of the year for the Vikings, who open the season at Kent State on Aug. 19 and travel to Robert Morris on Aug. 24. The Vikings will also play at Green Bay (Sept. 25), Butler (Oct. 5), Valparaiso (Oct. 9) and Longwood (Oct. 15) before closing the regular season with a trip to Wright State on Oct. 28.
Prior to the start of the season CSU will compete in two exhibition contests, playing at Akron on Aug. 7 and at Oakland on Aug. 13.
The top six teams in the league will play in the Horizon League Championship, with quarterfinal matches being played on campus sites on Nov. 4. The team with the best regular season record will host the next two rounds, with semifinal matches scheduled for Nov. 11 and the championship match set for Nov. 13.
The Vikings return six starters and seven other letterwinners from a team that won a program-record nine matches in 2010. Cleveland State went 7-2-2 at Krenzler Field last season and finished third in the Horizon League with a 5-3 conference record.
