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Horizon League Championships Start At Home On Tuesday

Horizon League Championships Start At Home On Tuesday
Posted: Oct 29, 2007

Oct. 29, 2007

Contact: Brian McCann

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Match 19
Youngstown State (1-17-1, 0-8) at Cleveland State (4-13-1, 1-6-1)
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Krenzler Field (1,680), Cleveland, Ohio
Series: YSU leads, 2-1-1
Last Meeting: CSU 2, @YSU 0 (10/12/07)

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State opens play in the 2007 Horizon League Championship at home, hosting ninth-seeded Youngstown State on Tuesday, Oct. 30 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field. CSU (4-13-1, 1-6-1) enters the tourney as the No. 8 seed and needs a win over the Penguins to advance to a quarterfinal match at Milwaukee on Saturday, Nov. 3.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings closed the 2007 regular season with a pair of home matches last week. Here is a synopsis of those contests:

Match 17: CSU 2, Detroit 2 (2OT) (Oct. 26, Krenzler Field)
Shayna Back and Sylvia Olsby scored goals to give CSU a 2-0 advantage but Detroit rallied to force overtime on a goal with 4:25 left. It was only the second tie in CSU history. Kelly Zinkiewich had five saves in goal for the Vikings.

Match 18: Butler 3, CSU 1 (Oct. 28, Krenzler Field)
Carrie Twyman scored a pair of goals for Butler and the Bulldogs outshot the Vikings, 27-4. Jennifer Wieand scored her school-record eighth goal late in the second half to pull CSU to within 2-1 but a breakaway goal in the 82nd minute iced the match. Zinkiewich had a career high 13 saves for the Vikings.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: As the fourth season of Viking women's soccer winds down, CSU has shown much improvement from the 3-17 season of a year ago. With eight starters and 15 leterwinners back from last year's team that won a school-record three matches, head coach Derrek Falor has the most depth and experience in program history. The strength of the squad is on offense where the tandem of senior Shayna Back (6 goals, 3 assists, 15 points), junior Jennifer Wieand (8-2-18) and freshman Sylvia Olsby (3-3-9) have helped the Vikings to significantly increase their scoring. Heather Clapacs (1-1-3) leads the midfielders, being joined by newcomers Nicole Howard and Marley Greiner to give CSU a solid group of playmakers. Depth on defense has been a problem in each of the last three seasons, but Falor has as many as eight skilled defenders to call upon this year. Led by returning starters Amber Rasmussen , Maggie Pugliese and Abbie Kakias and transfer Emily Arpidone (Virginia Commonwealth), the defense has good experience to build on. CSU has a new face in goal as freshman Kelly Zinkiewich (111 saves) has started every contest.

VIKINGS OPEN HORIZON LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY: The addition of Valparaiso to the Horizon League this year has brought the number of women's soccer playing schools to nine, necessitating the addition of a first round match in the league championship. CSU, which had finished as the No. 8 seed in each of the first three seasons, claimed the No. 8 seed this year after defeating Youngstown State in the regular season and finishing the league slate with a 1-6-1 record. YSU, the No. 9 seed, went winless in its eight league matches.

. . . MILWAUKEE IS WAITING IN THE WINGS: One constant in the first three years of CSU women's soccer is that the Vikings have played Milwaukee each year in the Horizon League Championships. That will happen again this year if CSU defeats Youngstown State on Tuesday, sending the Vikings to a quarterfinal meeting with the Panthers, who claimed the league title with a 7-0-1 mark this year. CSU has not fared well against the Panthers, losing seven all-time matches.

WIEAND BREAKS SHOT RECORD: With a pair of shots against Butler on Sunday, junior forward Jennifer Wieand has broken the school record for shots in a season with 53. She surpasses the old mark of 51 set by Lisa Conway last year.

. . . WIEAND EXTENDS SCORING MARK: With a goal and an assist in the two matches over the weekend, Wieand extended her school records for goals (8) and points (19) in a season. Earlier this year, she broke Shayna Back's records of six goals and 14 points which were set last year.

BACK SETS CAREER HIGHS: A first half goal against Detroit on Friday allowed senior Shayna Back to surpass her record scoring totals of a year ago. Back, who scored six goals and 14 points as a junior, has six goals and three assists for 15 points this season.

. . . CAREER SCORING TITLE AT STAKE THIS WEEK: Shayna Back enters the final tournament of her collegiate career as CSU's career scoring leader with 12 goals and 29 career points. Unfortunately for her, junior Jennifer Wieand is close behind, starting the week with career totals of 11 goals and 28 career points.

ZINKIEWICH REACHES SAVE MILESTONE: A career high 13 saves against Butler on Sunday allowed freshman goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich to become the third goalie in the short history of CSU women's soccer to record more than 100 saves in a season. Zinkiewich, who has started all 18 matches in goal this year, has made 111 saves. She trails only Ashley Kidwell (134 in 2004) and Erin Withrow (122 in 2005).

. . . MINUTES PLAYED RECORD NEXT FOR ZINKIEWICH: Freshman Kelly Zinkiewich will most likely set the season record for minutes played in goal this week, needing just 41 minutes to break the record of 1549:31 set by Erin Withrow in 2005. Zinkiewich has played 1509:46 this season.

NEXT UP: A win over Youngstown State on Tuesday would advance the Vikings to a Horizon League Championship quarterfinals match at Milwaukee on Saturday (Nov. 3).