Women's Soccer Set to Host First Round Horizon League Championship Playoff Match Athletics

Posted: Oct 26, 2010

Oct. 26, 2010

Match 19
Detroit (7-6-5, 3-3-2) at Cleveland State (9-7-2, 5-3)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010
Time: 5:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Krenzler Field (2,000), Cleveland, Ohio
Series: Detroit leads, 3-1-1
Last Meeting: @ UDM 1, CSU 0 (10/10/10)

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State will begin the 2010 Horizon League Championship at home this week as the No. 3 seed, hosting No. 6 Detroit on Saturday, Oct. 30 beginning at 5:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field. The Vikings split a pair of matches on the road last week to improve to 9-7-2 overall, guaranteeing CSU of its first winning season in program history. The Vikings finished tied for third in the league standings with a 5-3 mark. Detroit, which edged CSU 1-0 in Detroit on Oct. 10, is 7-6-5 overall and was 3-3-2 in league play.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings closed the regular season with a pair of road matches. Here is a synopsis of those matches:

Match 17: CSU 2, Valparaiso 0 (Oct. 22, Valparaiso, Ind.)
Natalie Daniels scored her school-record breaking ninth goal of the season two minutes before halftime and Sylvia Olsby added an insurance marker in the 76th minute as CSU set the school record for wins in a season in a 2-0 victory at Valparaiso. Kelly Zinkiewich made five saves for the shutout.

Match 18: Butler 1, CSU 1 (Oct. 24, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Sarah Phelps scored the lone goal on a penalty kick in the 56th minute and CSU was limited to just three shots as Butler escaped with a 1-0 win in a match that was twice delayed by lightning, including an hour at the start, and was ended with 3:26 left.

2010 SEASON PREVIEW: The Vikings enter the post season having assured itself of its best record season ever, including a program best third place finish in the Horizon League. The strength of the Vikings is on the back line where head coach Derrek Falor has called upon four veterans to form the nucleus of the unit. Senior Jessica McCloy returns after sitting out all but two matches last year following knee surgery and she is joined by junior Marina Taylor, who started 26 matches during her first two seasons, and the duo of sopho- more Valerie Stahl and freshman Frederike Dubeau. Stahl started all 18 matches a year ago while Dubeau has been impressive in her CSU debut while sophomore Carla Ragone has served as the fifth defender. Junior Natalie Daniels (9 goals, 4 assists, 22 points) and senior Allie Riczo (2-0-4) lead the midfield unit while seniors Sylvia Olsby (4-0-8) and Nicole Howard (0-1-1) and junior Jessica Bound (0-4-4) have filled the other two spots. Seniors Marley Greiner (0-1-1) and Olsby, sophomores Jaime Avona (0-1-1) and Nikki Bevilacqua (0-1-1) and freshman Taylor Vidovic (1-2-4) each see action at forward. Senior Kelly Zinkiewich, a three-year starter who holds the CSU record with 380 career saves, is the incumbent in goal with freshman Parisa Sadrnia serving as the backup.

HOME SWEET HOME: Forgive the Vikings if they look forward to hosting Detroit this week. After all, CSU set a school record by going 7-1-2 at Krenzler Field this fall, including a 3-1 mark in league action. The .800 winning percentage this year easily surpassed the old record of .500 set in 2008 when the Vikings went 4-4-1.

. . . AND VIKINGS SET SEASON RECORD AS WELL: The win at Valparaiso last week assured the Vikings of finishing the season with a winning record for the first time in program history. CSU carries a 9-7-2 mark heading into the week, breaking the old school record for wins in a season and winning percentage set in 2008 when the Vikings were 8-10-1 (.447).

FIRST ONE TO ONE WINS: How important is scoring the first goal in a match with CSU this year? All eight regular season league matches were shutouts with CSU winning five times and losing three times with five of the contests ending with a 1-0 score.

ASSISTS A-BOUND: Natalie Daniels broke the season goal record because of a perfectly placed corner kick by junior Jessica Bound. Bound now has four assists on the season, three of which have come on corner kicks. Allie Riczo, Frederike Dubeau, Valerie Stahl and Daniels have each scored of her passes.

CSU IN TOURNEY PLAY: The Vikings carry a 1-5 record in Horizon League Tournament matches into this week's contest, but CSU did win the lone contest that was played at Krenzler Field, a 2-1 overtime win against Youngstown State in a 2007.

ZINKIEWICH SET TO FINISH RECORD SETTING YEAR: Senior goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich has been phenomenal in goal this season, setting school records for goals against average (1.12), save percentage (.811) and shutouts (7), leading the league in saves and ranking third in save percentage and fourth in goals against average. Zinkiewich has four of the top eight single season save totals in CSU history.

. . . AND ZINKIEWICH & THE CAREER RECORD BOOKS: Kelly Zinkiewich enters the post season as the holder of the CSU career records for saves (380), shutouts (15), minutes played (6,131) and goals against average (1.94). Her save total ranks her fourth in league history, 49 behind third place Alisson Dube of Detroit, while her minutes played are fifth best. She will pass Butler's E.B. Larson (6,152) and move in fourth place in the next two weeks.

DANIELS CLAIMS GOAL RECORD: A first half goal at Valparaiso allowed junior Natalie Daniels to set the school record for goals in a season. Daniels now has nine goals, one more than the old record of eight set by Jennifer Wieand in 2007. Daniels now has the season record for both goals and points (22) and holds the career records for goals (16), assists (12) and points (60) while ranking second in shots on goal (73) and third in shots (117), needing eight shots on goal and four shots to break the career records.

NEXT UP: A win over Detroit would send the Vikings to Indianapolis to face No. 2 Milwaukee in a semi-final match of the tourney on Friday, Nov. 5.