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Women's Soccer Closes Regular Season With Two Matches

Women's Soccer Closes Regular Season With Two Matches
Posted: Oct 20, 2008

Oct. 20, 2008

Contact: Brian McCann

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Match 17
Youngstown State (4-10-1, 0-4-1) at Cleveland State (6-8-1, 1-3-1)
Date: Friday, Oct. 24, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Krenzler Field (1,680), Cleveland, Ohio
Series: Series Tied, 2-2-1
Last Meeting: @CSU 2, YSU 1 (10/30/07)

Match 18
Cleveland State at Butler (9-7, 4-2)
Date: Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Varsity Field (1,000), Indianapolis, Ind.
Series: Butler Leads, 4-0
Last Meeting: Butler 3, @CSU 1 (10/28/07)

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State finishes the 2008 regular season schedule this week with a pair of contests. The Vikings open play on Friday, Oct. 24 with a 7:00 p.m. Senior Night match against Youngstown State. CSU then travels to Indianapolis to close the schedule with a 1:00 p.m. meeting with Butler on Sunday, Oct. 26.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings played a pair of league matches last week. Here are a synopsis of those contests:

Match 15: CSU 2, Green Bay 1 (Oct. 17, Green Bay, Wis.)
Nicole Howard and Natalie Daniels each scored second half goals to lead the Vikings back from a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat Green Bay for the first time in program history. Daniels scored on a breakaway in the 64th minute and then assisted on Howard's goal at the 77:00 mark to raise her team-leading totals to four goals, four assists and 12 points. Kelly Zinkiewich made three saves to record the win.

Match 16: Valpo 2, CSU 0 (Oct. 19, Valparaiso, Ind.)
Mikki Nuccio scored a pair of second half goals, her first two goals of the season, as Valparaiso edged the Vikings, 2-0. Playing with the wind to their back, CSU was out-shot 9-3 in the second half and 14-8 for the game.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: The Vikings have come along nicely under fifth-year Viking head coach Derrek Falor as the return of eight starters from last year's 5-14-1 squad and the addition of 10 newcomers have given CSU its deepest and most talented team to date. Falor shook up the lineup two weeks ago, moving forward Jennifer Wieand (1 goal, 3 assists), CSU's career scoring leader with 34 points, to midfield while moving midfielder Allie Riczo (1-0-2) to forward. Joining Riczo up front are senior Abbie Kakias (1-2-4) and sophomore Sylvia Olsby (2 goal, 1 assist, 5 points). Freshman Natalie Daniels (4-4-12) leads the midfield lineup, being joined by sophomore Emily Arpidone and Wieand. The defensive lineup is a veteran one with juniors Jessica McCloy and Danielle Ultican getting the starting nod in the middle with freshmen Jordan King and Marina Taylor starting outside. Sophomore Kelly Zinkiewich returns in goal, holding opponents to a 1.84 goals against average, making 61 saves with a school-record three shutouts this fall.

THE SEARCH FOR A SEED: With one week to go in the regular season, the picture remains unclear regarding where the Vikings will be seeded for next week's Horizon League Championship and where CSU might play its first tourney match. CSU enters the week tied with Green Bay for seventh place with a 1-4-1 record. A win over Youngstown State on Friday would assure CSU of not having to travel for the lone first round match next week (Oct. 29) and as long as Green Bay does not sweep matches with Valparaiso and at Detroit, CSU would avoid playing the lone first round game completely. A loss to YSU could set up a scenario where YSU, CSU and Green Bay could each finish tied, a tiebreaker that would not favor CSU.

VIKINGS BREAK WIN RECORD: Friday's win at Green Bay was the sixth win of the year for the Vikings, allowing Cleveland State to break the school record for wins in a season. The six wins are one more than a year ago when CSU went 5-14-1.

SENIOR NIGHT TO BE A SPECIAL ONE: Friday night's match against Youngstown State will serve as Senior Night with the Viking trio of Abbie Kakias, Maggie Pugliese and Jennifer Wieand being honored in a pre-match ceremony. The trio were each part of the first recruiting class in 2004 but were forced to miss a season along the way because of a knee injury. Wieand, the schools career scoring leading with 34 points, has started all 75 matches that she has played in during her career. Kakias has started 72 times, totalling five goals and seven assists for 17 points. Pugliese, who has played in 67 matches with 59 starts, is out of the lineup for the remainder of the year with a knee injury.

ZINKIEWICH EYES SAVE MARK: With 61 saves this year, sophomore goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich has raised her career total to 185, the second-highest total in school history. She had 124 saves last year, the second-highest season total in school history, and has 12 more saves than third place Ashley Kidwell. She needs 29 stops to break the record of 210 saves by Erin Withrow (2005-06).

DANIELS CONTINUES FRESHMAN TREND: When Natalie Daniels recorded a goal and and assist in last week's win at Green Bay, it all but assured her of being the third Viking freshman to lead the team in scoring in the five years the program has existed. With 12 points (4 goals, 4 assists), she is seven points ahead of Sylva Olsby and Jennifer Wieand, who each have two goals and an assist for five points. Amber Rasmussen led the team in scoring in 2004 and Ashley Spahn followed with six points to lead the squad in 2005. Juniors have led the team in each of the last two years with Shayna Back (13) and Wieand (19) leading in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

NEXT UP: The Vikings begin play in the Horizon League Championship. The date, time and opponent will be determined by CSU's play on the field this week.