Women's Soccer Travels To St. Bonaventure & Niagara Athletics

Posted: Aug 27, 2008

Aug. 27, 2008

Match 2
Cleveland State (0-1) at St. Bonaventure (0-1)
Date: Friday, Aug. 29, 2008
Time: 5:00 p.m. EDT
Site: McGraw-Jennings Field (1,000), Olean, N.Y.
Series: St. Bonaventure leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: @SBU 4, CSU 0 (9/19/04)

Match 3
Cleveland State at Niagara (0-1)
Date: Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Niagara Field (1,000), Niagara, N.Y.
Series: Niagara leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: Niagara 3, @CSU 1 (9/20/05)

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State will take to the road for the first time during the 2008 season when the Vikings play a pair of matches in the State of New York. CSU opens the week with a 5:00 p.m. contest at St. Bonaventure on Friday, Aug. 29. The Vikings then head to Niagara to face the Purple Eagles beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 31. Cleveland State is coming off a season-opening 3-0 loss to Toledo on Sunday (Aug. 24). This will be only the second meeting between CSU and both St. Bonaventure and Niagara with the Bonnies winning in 2004 (4-0) and Niagara claiming a win in 2005 (3-1).

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings opened the 2008 season at home against Toledo. Here is a synopsis of that contest:

Game 1: Toledo 3, CSU 0 (Aug. 24, Krenzler Field) Toledo scored a pair of goals in the first five minutes of the second half to break open a scoreless game, eventually winning, 3-0. CSU was out-shot 14-4 in the contest with Viking netminder Kelly Zinkiewich making seven saves.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Fifth-year Viking head coach Derrek Falor is optimistic about the prospects for another improvement on the playing field this fall as CSU returns eight starters from last year's 5-14-1 squad. Add into the mix a batch of 10 newcomers and Falor has the deepest and most talented lineup in program history. Senior Jennifer Wieand returns after setting CSU records for goals (8), points (19) and shots (63) last year and she will be joined up front by sophomore Sylvia Olsby (3G, 3A, 9 points) and freshman Nikki Bevilacqua. The midfield lineup has been rebuilt and will be centered around sophomore Allie Riczo, who redshirted last season. She will be joined at center mid by freshman Natalie Daniels with sophomore Marley Greiner (0-2-2) and freshman Jordan King starting outside. The defensive lineup is a veteran one with juniors Jessica McCloy and Danielle Ultican expected to get the nod in the middle with seniors Abbie Kakias and Maggie Pugliese starting outside. Sophomore Kelly Zinkiewich returns in goal after starting all 20 matches last year, posting a 2.33 goals against average with 124 saves.

SENIOR CLASS: The 26-player 2008 roster includes just three seniors, but those seniors have been through the high points and the low points of women's soccer history as each was part of the inaugural recruiting class but has missed a season along the way because of a knee injury. Abbie Kakias, who sat out the inaugural season in 2004, is joined by Maggie Pugliese (2005) and Jennifer Wieand (2006) as the senior class this year with each of the trio serving as team captains.

VIKINGS PICKED SEVENTH: Another highmark for the Vikings came during the preseason when Cleveland State was picked to finish tied for seventh in the Horizon League this season in a preseason poll of the league's coaches. In their four previous seasons, CSU was picked to finish last three times and tied for last once. Eight-time defending regular season champion Milwaukee was the preseason favorite, garnering seven of the nine first place votes and 63 points total. Loyola, who has won the league tournament in each of the last two years, was picked second with 58 points and the other two first place votes. Wright State (47 points) was third, followed by Butler (46). Detroit and Valparaiso were tied for fifth with 31 points and CSU and Green Bay were tied for seventh with 17 points. Youngstown State was ninth with 14 points.

WIEAND RECORDS ANOTHER PROGRAM FIRST: It took four full seasons and one match, but the Vikings finally took the first penalty kick in the history of the program in the season opener against Toledo. At the 35:53 mark of the first half, Toledo was called for a handball in the penalty area, sending senior Jennifer Wieand to the mark for the penalty kick. Wieand blasted a shot to the low right hand corner of the goal but Rocket netminder Angela Righmeier guessed correctly and made a diving stop. Officially, the penalty kick came in the 80th match in women's soccer history.

WIEAND EYES SCORING MARK: After coming back from major knee surgery last year to earn second team All-Horizon League honors after setting CSU single season records for goals (8), points (19) and shots (63), Jennifer Wieand begins her final campaign within reach of setting the career marks in all three categories as well. She enters the week with career totals of 11 goals, 28 points and 111 shots, needing two goals, three points and nine shots to break the school marks. Shayna Back, who graduated last spring, holds the records for goals (12) and points (30) while current assistant coach Heather Clapacs has the record with 119 shots.

. . . BUT ZINKIEWICH HAS SOME WORK TO DO: After making 124 saves as a freshman, it is inevitable that sophomore Kelly Zinkiewich will break the school record for career saves at some point this year. Just when she'll break the mark is up in the air as she enters the week needing 80 saves to break the record of 210 set by Erin Withrow from 2005-06. Before she can do that however, she'll need to make 43 stops to pass Ashley Kidwell (2004-06), who made 173 career saves. Last year, Zinkiewich became the third CSU goalie to make 100 or more saves in a season.

NEXT UP: The Vikings return home to host Akron on Wednesday (Sept. 3) before traveling to Robert Morris on Friday (Sept. 5).