Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Cleveland State University

The Official Home of the Cleveland State University Vikings

Vikings Play At Wright State In League Tourney Opener

Vikings Play At Wright State In League Tourney Opener
Posted: Oct 27, 2008

Oct. 27, 2008

Contact: Brian McCann

Complete Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

Match 19
2008 Horizon League Championship
No. 6 Cleveland State (8-9-1, 3-4-1) at No. 3 Wright State (9-8-1, 4-3-1)
Date: Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Alumni Field (500), Fairborn, Ohio
Series: WSU Leads, 4-0-1
Last Meeting: @CSU 0, WSU 0 (2ot) (9/26/08)

SETTING THE SCENE: With wins in four of their last five regular season matches, Cleveland State opens play in the 2008 Horizon League Championship as the No. 6 seed, traveling to No. 3 Wright State to face the Raiders on Sunday, Nov. 2 beginning at 1:00 p.m. at WSU's Alumni Field.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings closed the regular season with a pair of league matches last week. Here are a synopsis of those contests:

Match 17: CSU 2, Youngstown State 1 (Oct. 24, Krenzler Field)
Jessica McCloy scored her first goal of the season just 91 seconds into overtime to give CSU a 2-1 win over Youngstown State. Sylvia Olsby gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead with a goal in the 37th minute, but YSU rallied to tie the match with a goal just 52 seconds before half. Kelly Zinkiewich made six saves in goal.

Match 18: CSU 2, Butler 0 (Oct. 26, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Natalie Daniels and Sylvia Olsby each scored goals and Kelly Zinkiewich turned back a 21-shot Butler barrage by making eight saves as CSU beat Butler for the first time in five meetings. Jennifer Wieand had an assist on Olsby's goal to tie the school record with 10 career assists.

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, 4 assists), CSU's career scoring leader with 36 points, to midfield while moving midfielder Allie Riczo (1-0-2) to forward. Joining Riczo up front are senior Abbie Kakias (1-3-5) and sophomore Sylvia Olsby (4 goal, 1 assist, 9 points). Freshman Natalie Daniels (5-5-15) 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 1.64 goals against average, making 75 saves with a school-record four shutouts this fall.

THE FIRST TIME AROUND: Cleveland State and Wright State met in Cleveland during the regular season. Here is a synopsis of that contest:

Match 10: CSU 0, Wright State 0 (2OT) (Sept. 26, Krenzler Field)
Kelly Zinkiewich made a season-high 10 saves to help overcome a 24-5 Wright State shooting advantage as the Vikings battled the Raiders to a scoreless draw. It marked only the second league tie in CSU history and ended a streak of four straight wins against the Vikings by Wright State.

VIKINGS EXTEND WIN RECORD: With wins in four of the last five matches to close the regular season, the Vikings have shattered the school record for wins in a season. CSU enters the post-season with an 8-9-1 record, a considerable improvement over last year's 5-14-1 mark, the previous school record.

. . . AND SET CONFERENCE STANDARDS AS WELL: A pair of Horizon League wins in the final week of the season allowed the Vikings to set team records for highest finish and best record in a league season. The wins improved CSU to 3-4-1 in league play, moving the Vikings into sixth place in the league standings including the program's first-ever wins over Green Bay and Butler. Prior to this season, the best finish by a CSU squad came last year when the Vikings finished in eighth place. Prior to this season, CSU had compiled just a 1-26-2 league record.

PITCHING A SHUTOUT: Sophomore goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich turned in perhaps the finest performance of her Viking career in blanking Butler, 2-0, on Sunday. The shutout, Zinkiewich's school-record fourth of the season, came after she made eight saves in turning back 21 shots from the Bulldogs. The performance capped a brilliant week for the Oakville, Ont. native. She made 14 saves and allowed just one goal in two matches, including a six-save effort in a 2-1 overtime win over Youngstown State.

. . . AND ZINKIEWICH EYES SAVE MARK: With 75 saves this year, sophomore goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich has raised her career total to 199, the second-highest total in school history. She had 124 saves last year, the second-highest season total in school history, and has 26 more saves than third place Ashley Kidwell. She needs 12 stops to break the record of 210 saves by Erin Withrow (2005-06).

OLSBY FINDS THE MARK: With Jennifer Wieand graduating this season, the role of goal-scorer may be passed on to sophomore Sylvia Olsby, who is finishing the season on a scoring streak. The Seattle, Wash. native scored a goal in each of the two wins last week to raise her season goal total to four, the second-highest figure on the team. She has scored three times in the last five matches, tallying the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over IUPUI on Oct. 12. She begins the week with seven career goals, the third-highest total in school history

DANIELS CONTINUES FRESHMAN TREND: With a goal and an assist in the two CSU wins last week, freshman Natalie Danials has all but assured herdself of being the third Viking freshman to lead the team in scoring in the five years the program has existed. With 15 points (5 goals, 5 assists), she is six points ahead of Sylva Olsby, who has four goals and an assist for nine 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: A win over Wright State in the second round of the Horizon League Championship would advance the Vikings to the semi-finals where they would face the winner of No. 2 Milwaukee vs. No. 7 Green Bay match. The contest would be on Friday, Nov. 7 in Chicago, Ill. at Loyola University.