Aug. 9, 2010

Contact: Brian McCann

With the start of school around the corner and pre-season practice underway, the Cleveland State women's soccer team has been participating in drills and scrimmages twice daily since Saturday to prepare for the upcoming season.

"This squad isn't flashy, but is very hard working," head coach Derrek Falor said. "Our non-conference schedule is tough and we're going to learn some things, but I think we need to at the very least get back to being a .500 team"

Falor welcomes back 16 players including eight starters and 14 letterwinners from the 2010 season. Junior midfielder Natalie Daniels returns after being named to the All-Horizon League second team for the second consecutive year. Senior Jessica McCloy is back on defense after missing last season due to an injury and will be joined by senior Allie Riczo, junior Marina Taylor and sophomore Valerie Stahl on defense.

"I think our returnees are in better positions than they were in the past," Falor said. "I think there's some versatility in our squad that we haven't had and we're just going to be better soccer players."

The team is committing to a 4-4-2 scheme this season in order to put players in better positions to attack and score. Falor feels Taylor and Riczo can move the ball up field and would best benefit the team by playing out wide on defense. "They can get up and get back," Falor said. "Allie being a midfielder is really used to having the ball at her feet a lot, so I think it will be good."

The Vikings are coming off a 3-14-1 season in which they were only able to score 12 goals. Senior goalie Kelly Zinkiewich, who posted two shutouts last year, returns healthy and determined to help the Vikings improve upon the previous season.

Falor believes the team will be in a good position to succeed because of the hard work they have put in this summer, along with the youth and depth on the team.

"Jess (McCloy) is returning as a starter and is healthy, and Kelly (Zinkiewich) hasn't had a concussion in just about a year," Falor said. "But at the same time I do think there's going to be some battles with some freshmen with who's playing, where and how much. There's a lot more toughness in this group than we've had in the past and on defense I think we're going to be able to go seven deep for the first time in a long time."

The Vikings are set to kickoff the 2010 season with an exhibition game at Pittsburgh on Saturday, August 14, at 2:00 p.m. Regular season action gets underway on August 22 when the Vikings begin a five-game home stand at Krenzler Field with a game against Marshall. The game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.