Posted: Apr 02, 2021
Cleveland State vs. VMI
Saturday, April 3 | 12:00 p.m.
Krenzler Bubble | Cleveland, Ohio
Presented by Cleveland Clinic Sports Medicine
Watch | Live Stats | Game Notes
HOME SWEET HOME
The Cleveland State Vikings will play their first regular season home match in 393 days when they play host to VMI inside the Krenzler Bubble on Saturday afternoon. The Vikings (1-4), who are scheduled to play eight of their 10 games on the road, last played on home turf in a 9-8 win over Bellarmine on March 6, 2020 that saw Chase Baker net a pair of goals while adding an assist. VMI (1-4, 0-3) won its season opener 13-12 over Lafayette before suffering four straight losses, including three within the Southern Conference. The Vikings and Keydets will do battle for the first time ever this weekend.
GOLDEN EAGLES FLY HIGH
Closing out a season-opening five-game road trip at Marquette last Saturday, the Vikings fell behind 3-0 in the first quarter and never recovered in a 10-5 setback. Brendan Sigurdson and Chase Baker both scored to extend ther respective goal streaks to straight games while Nick Polyduras recorded a goal and an assist. Making his fifth straight start to open the season, Kevin Sobey made seven saves in net.
IN THE WIN COLUMN
After falling to 0-2 to start the season, the Vikes picked up their first "W" on March 13, silencing Bellarmine's offensive attack in an 8-1 victory that saw sophomore goalie Kevin Sobey stop 17 of the 18 shots he faced. Chase Baker notched a hat trick in his first action of the campaign while Michael Wilson scored and dished out an assist. As a team, the Vikings posted their best defensive effort against a Division I opponent in program history, holding the opposition to under five goals for the first time ever. It also marked Cleveland State's first win while being outshot and fourth having fewer ground balls than the competition.
DYNAMIC DUO
Redshirt senior Chase Baker and sophomore Brendan Sigurdson both own team-high five-game goal streaks. Sigurdson is the only Viking to score in every game this season and leads the team with a 6-5-11 scoring line, including a pair of man-up tallies. Baker has only appeared in three games this season, but he has already matched Sigurdson's six goals.
TURN 'EM OVER
With six caused turnovers against Bucknell on March 7, redshirt senior Zach Whitenack became the Vikings' all-time leader in the category. Whitenack, who had 11 CT over a two-game stretch against Bucknell and Bellarmine earlier this season and sits at 45 career CT, surpassed former Vikes Isaac Atencio and Skyler Jiminenz, who were previously tied for the lead with 37 each.
IN THE RANKINGS - AS A TEAM
The Vikings are second in the country in man-down defense at 86.7 percent, allowing only two EMO goals across 15 opportunities. Cleveland State is 37th in the country in caused turnovers per game (7.60) while ranking 32nd in clearing percentage (.848).
IN THE RANKINGS - INDIVIDUALLY
Redshirt senior Zach Whitenack is tied for first in the country in caused turnovers per game (3.00) while goaltender Kevin Sobey has recorded 68 saves through five games, which gives the sophomore the 11th-most saves per game in NCAA DI: 13.60. Sobey is 17th in save percentage (.567) and 32nd in goals-against average (10.93). Freshman Evan Moskwa ranks inside the top 40 nationally in faceoff win percentage (.524).
HERE COMES THE (A)SUN
Cleveland State announced Feb. 5 that its lacrosse program accepted an invitation to join the ASUN Conference as an affiliate member, effective for the 2022 season. This will be the first time that the Cleveland State lacrosse program has had a conference affiliation, as the Vikings have competed as an independent since their debut season in 2017.
