Women's Soccer Opens Preseason Workouts

Posted: Aug 10, 2009

Aug. 10, 2009

As the start of pre-season practice arrives for the Cleveland State women's soccer team, the squad takes the field twice daily participating in drills and scrimmages in preparation for the upcoming season.

"It's good to get back on the field after the summer break, so far practices are running smoothly allowing us to work on all aspects of the game," head coach Derrek Falor said. "After our great spring season we had, everyone continued to work hard over the summer which allows us to get right to work on skills and techniques that we need to focus on before the season begins."

Falor welcomes back 26 players including eight starters and 17 letterwinners for the 2009 season. Seniors Danielle Ultican and Jessica McCloy will lead the defense for the Vikings this season. While midfielder Natalie Daniels returns after being named to the All-Horizon League second team as well as the all-newcomer team following the 2008 season.

Captains Jessica McCloy, Danielle Ultican and Allie Riczo have been the leading force behind getting their team to stay on target during the two-a-day practices and creating a team atmosphere off the field as well. They all believe that this year's team has the best chemistry of all the years they have been with the program. "Having everyone here for the summer is great. We can all work with the lifting coach together and also hang out as a team more often," Ultican said. "We all knew the freshmen before they came into the program this year so that helped a lot with the team chemistry."

The Vikings are coming off a school record, 8-10-1 season, where they won four of their last six games including an overtime win against Youngstown State. CSU also scored nine of the season's 19 goals during the last six games.

Head coach Derrek Falor knows what the team needs to work on in order for the Vikings to be at their full potential for the season opener. "We need to get plays done in one or two touches, compared to the four touches it is taking us now. We need to improve on ball position, it's the whole concept of the more we have the ball, the less our opponents have it. From a mental standpoint we are great due to all of the work they put in over the summer."

The Vikings are set to kickoff the 2009 season with an exhibition game against Gannon on Sunday, August 16 at Krenzler Field. Start time is set for 1:00 p.m..