Nov. 1, 2004
Contact: Brian McCann
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Match 20
UW-Milwaukee (10-7-2, 7-0) vs. Cleveland State (0-19, 0-7)
Date: Thursday, November 4, 2004
Time: 2:00 p.m. EST
Site: Kuntz Stadium (4,000), Indianapolis, Ind.
Other First Round Pairings
No. 2 Detroit vs. No. 7 Youngstown St., 3:00 p.m.
No. 4 Loyola vs. No. 5 Wright State, 4:30 p.m.
No. 3 Butler vs. No. 6 UW-Green Bay, 5:30 p.m.
SETTING THE SCENE: The Vikings make their first appearance in the Horizon League Championship this week when CSU travels to Indianapolis, Ind. for a first round game on Thursday (Nov. 4). The Vikings enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed and will play regular season champion UW-Milwaukee (10-7-2, 7-0) beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST at Butler's Kuntz Stadium. If CSU advances in the tourney, they would play the winner of No. 4 Loyola vs. No. 5 Wright State on Friday (Nov. 5) beginning at 11:30 a.m. EST at Butler's Varsity Field. The championship match will be played at Varsity Field on Sunday (Nov. 7) at 12:00 noon EST.
REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings ended the regular season by dropping a pair of matches, losing 7-0 at UW-Green Bay on Friday (Oct. 29) and 3-0 at home against Loyola on Sunday (Oct. 31). Here are a synopsis of those matches:
Match 18: UW-Green Bay 7, CSU 0 (Oct. 29, Green Bay, Wis.) Lauren Wood and Sarah Oligney scored two goals each to lead UW-Green Bay to a 7-0 win over CSU. Allie Zajaros started in goal for CSU after missing six matches with a knee injury, but had to leave the game in the second half. The Vikings were out-shot, 35-3.
Match 19: Loyola 3, CSU 0 (Oct. 31, Foltz Field) Julie Kenkel scored just eight minutes into the match and Stephanie Paulie added a pair of goals as Loyola knocked off Cleveland State, 3-0. CSU played strong defensively, but couldn't combat a 23-7 deficit on shots.
VIKINGS LOOK FORWARD TO A REMATCH: When Cleveland State and UW-Milwaukee met during the regular season on Oct. 3, the Vikings played what head coach Derrek Falor called the best all-around match of the season. Despite being out-shot, 27-4, Cleveland State allowed only an Elizabeth McNally goal just 11 minutes into the contest. Freshman Ashley Kidwell was outstanding in goal, stopping 13 shots.
. . . STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED: Although it may be very easy to write off the possibilities for the 0-19 Vikings in the Horizon League Championship, you can believe that the rest of the league won't. Last year, Loyola entered the tournament as the last seed and proceeded to knock off No. 2 Butler (1-0), No. 3 UW-Green Bay (4-2) and No. 5 Detroit (1-0) en route to claiming the tournament title and the NCAA tournament bid that went with it.
FALOR ON THE HORIZON LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP: "This is the reason why we played 19 regular season matches and although it is unrealistic to expect a team title, I do expect that we are going to go to Indianapolis and finish the season on a high note. I am proud of this team. They have worked hard, fought through the adversity of being a first-year program and represented Cleveland State University well. It could have been very easy for them to just give up as the losses mounted, but they didn't. They have played with effort and intensity for 90 minutes in every match and they have given us something to build on in the off-season."
TOURNEY LAST ACTION FOR CSU SENIORS: The Horizon League Championship will most likely serve as the final matches in the careers of seniors Katie Burke, Jessica Larsen and Ivana Milovic. The trio, the first of what should be many women's soccer alumni, have each been with the program for two years, making the team last year as walk-ons and taking part in practices during the year. Burke and Larsen have served as co-captains this year, combining to start 26 matches while Milovic has played in 10 matches, owning one career start. All three will graduate this year, Burke in December with a degree in special education and Larsen (political science, sociology & criminology) and Milovic (political science) next spring.
FRESHMEN ORIENTATION: With 14 of the 21 players on the CSU roster being classified as freshmen, the Vikings never find themselves without an abundance of rookies on the field. In fact, in the 19 matches this year, CSU's non-freshmen have combined to start just 39 times (out of a possible 209). CSU has started 10 freshmen five times this year, including in four of the last six matches. Senior Katie Burke was the lone senior to start in three of those matches with senior Jessica Larsen filling the role in each of the last two contests.
SHOTS & SAVES: One by-product of the Viking offensive struggles this year has been an increasingly larger number of shots by CSU opponents and consequently, saves by Viking netminders. Cleveland State has been out-shot, 538-105 for the year with CSU goalies combining to make 211 saves in the 19 games (11.1 spg). Allie Zajaros has made 81 saves in 11 games in goal, including a school-record 18 against Bowling Green on Oct. 1. It was the most saves by a goalie in the Horizon League this year and the third-highest total in league history. Ashley Kidwell leads the team with 130 saves in 15 games, including double figure save totals in five contests. She made a career-high 15 stops at Detroit on Oct. 8.
CLAPACS LEADS MIDFIELD ATTACK: One offensive bright spot for the Vikings this year has been the play of freshman midfielder Heather Clapacs. Clapacs, who leads the team with 38 shots and 18 shots on goal, has emerged as CSU's best possession player. She set school records for shots (9) and shots on goal (7) in the Youngstown State match on Oct. 17.
NEXT UP: Anything short of a team title at the Horizon League Championship will end the inaugural season of women's soccer at Cleveland State. CSU is tentatively slated to open the 2005 season at Bowling Green on Friday, Aug. 26 beginning at 4 p.m.
