GAME #6
Bellarmine (2-5) at Cleveland State (1-4)
Friday, March 6 | 6:00 p.m.
Cleveland, Ohio | Krenzler Field
Stats | Video

GAME #7
Cleveland State (1-4) vs. Mercer (4-1)
Monday, March 9 | 3:00 p.m.
Towson, Md. | Paul Angelo Russo Stadium
Stats

PDF Game Notes 

OFF AND RUNNING
The Cleveland State University lacrosse team plays two games wrapped around the weekend. The Vikings will host Bellarmine Friday before a neutral-site meeting with Mercer Monday.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Bellarmine enters with a 2-5 mark after a loss to No. 12 Georgetown last weekend. BU and CSU both lost to Marquette by identical 11-10 scores in early February. The Knights rank among the top 25 in DI in caused turnovers and opponent clearing. Mercer is 4-1 entering the weekend with its lone loss coming to No. 8 North Carolina. The Bears will play at Monmouth Saturday. Mercer's Sean Goldsmith currently leads Division I in goals per game (5.60).

NOT A RANK AND FILE WIN
Tristan Hanna was the hero as Cleveland State beat a ranked foe for the first time as it claimed a 12-11 overtime win over No. 16 Air Force Feb. 22. The win was no fluke as CSU had advantages in nearly every statistical category, including shots, faceoffs won, clear percentage and caused turnovers. The Vikings rallied from four separate fourth-quarter deficits before winning in OT.

SEVENTH HEAVEN
Tristan Hanna was named to the USILA Team of the Week Feb. 25 after he had a school-record seven goals in the 12-11 win over Air Force. Hanna scored all four goals that CSU scored in the fourth quarter, including one to tie the game in the final minute and force overtime. He then scored the game-winner in overtime to cap off the milestone win. Hanna is one of just three DI players to score 7+ goals against a nationally ranked team this season.

SEEKING TRIPLE DIGITS
Michael Wilson was on fire offensively to end 2019, tallying 45 points in his final 10 games. He has points in 10 straight games, with nine multi-point efforts in that span. Wilson's five points in the Face-Off Classic pushed his career total to 99, as he is on the verge of becoming the first Viking to reach the century mark.

(NOT) CLEAR SAILING
CSU often forced its opponents into failed clears last season. The Vikings' foes were just 248-for-351 on clears in 2019 with the 70.7% mark ranking as the best opponent clearing mark in DI. No CSU opponent cleared above 83.3% in the final 14 games last year. CSU's foes are 103-for-124 (.831) on the clear thus far this season.

VIKING VOLUNTEERS
For the third straight year, Cleveland State ran a learn-to-play lacrosse academy at the Urban Community School during the fall, providing the school that caters to low-income children with a once-a-week 'class' in lacrosse. CSU players and coaches went to the school weekly from early September into November to teach the basics of the game and interact with the kids while serving as role models for the younger generation. CSU's programming supports the mission and objectives of the Lacrosse Communities Project-Cleveland. US Lacrosse had chosen Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood as the second pilot site nationally for the governing body's national development model.

LAST WE MET
Cleveland State scored seven straight goals spanning halftime, turning a 4-3 deficit into a 10-4 lead, and never looked back in cruising to a 17-8 win over visiting Bellarmine. The Vikings dominated the faceoff, winning 25 of 28, as Danny Tesler went 16-for-18. Tristan Hanna had four goals while Jason Sullivan posted five points.

LAST WE MET, PART II
Cleveland State outscored Mercer, 5-0, in the second quarter to take control and led for the entire second half to claim a 12-8 victory at Five Star Stadium. Michael Wilson had a game-high six points, including a natural hat trick in the fourth quarter. Tristan Hanna added four goals while Danny Tesler went 17-of-23 on faceoffs.

TURN 'EM OVER
Senior co-captain Isaac Atencio leads the Vikings in the early going with seven caused turnovers. Through just five games, he is just three CT short of matching his career high set during the 2018 season. He owns 35 career caused turnovers, second all-time at CSU, trailing only Skylar Jimenez (37).

RANKED FOES x 3
In facing Notre Dame, Air Force and Denver consecutively in February, CSU played three straight ranked opponents. It marked the first time that the Vikings faced back-to-back-to-back ranked foes. The trio of games against the Fighting Irish, Falcons and Pioneers were the 15th, 16th and 17th times CSU faced a ranked squad in its fourth season.

RYAN READY TO GO
Ryan Haigh is off to a strong start to his sophomore season. He has multiple points in each of CSU's five games thus far, the only Viking to do so. Haigh has scored in six straight games overall, a new career best, and has already surpassed his goal and point totals from last season.

WORKING OVERTIME
Cleveland State played a pair of overtime games in the season's first month, more than the program played in its first three seasons combined (1). The Vikings fell to Marquette, 11-10, and topped Air Force, 12-11. The win over the Falcons was the first-ever OT win for CSU.

THAT'S RAD
After not having a point in a five-game stretch, junior Derek Radke has four points in the past three games. Radke had his first multi-point game of the season last time out at Denver while making his second start of the campaign.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
Nine members of the Cleveland State lacrosse team were named to the National Collegiate Box Series Top 40 list that was released by US Box Lacrosse Association (USBOXLA) in December 2019. Cleveland State's nine selections on the top-40 list were by far the most among all NCAA programs. Senior Troy Loper led the way for CSU by claiming the number three spot on the top-40 list. Classmates Nate Menendez (No. 11), Isaac Atencio (No. 12), Zach Whitenack (No. 15) and Gage Johnson (No. 17) all earned top-20 slots for the Vikings.