CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State eased past VMI, 22-10 on Senior Day inside the Krenzler Bubble on Saturday afternoon. The Vikings honored their 11 seniors prior to the game; Gareth Haigh, Derek Radke, Ryan Haigh, Cole Anderson, Jason Sullivan, Cameron Logan, Adam Clark, Andrew Boniface, Matt Manfredi, Nick Polydoras, and Jacob Humphreys.
VMI claimed their only lead of the game after scoring the opening goal two minutes into the contest. R. Haigh evened the score at one with a man-up goal off an assist from Polydoras with 11:06 remaining in the quarter.
Cleveland State took their first lead 2-1 after Gannon Matthews scored off a feed from Amiri Austin with 9:28 to go in the first quarter. Clark extended the margin to two at the 1:17 mark on a helper from Sullivan and R. Haigh found the back of the net with 17 ticks to go on a Matthews assist as the Green and White led 4-1.
The Vikings opened the new quarter with an unassisted goal by Matthews just 58 seconds in as the scoreboard read, 5-1. The Keydets then accounted for the next two goals, trimming their deficit to 5-3 with 9:41 remaining in the first half.
Back-to-back goals by R. Haigh with the latter coming on the man-up extended the advantage to 7-3 with 6:55 left in the second quarter. VMI then netted two of the next three goals to get within 8-5 with 4:12 to go in the quarter. However, the Vikings scored the final two goals of the half with Evan Moskwa and Clark to lead 10-5.
Cleveland State started the third quarter fast as R. Haigh scored off a pass from Sullivan just 46 seconds after the first whistle. Nine seconds later, Sullivan netted an unassisted goal, upping the margin to 12-5. Sullivan again scored at the 10:34 mark off a pass from R. Haigh, bumping the advantage to eight.
VMI ended the run at the 9:39 mark, but only briefly as CSU rattled off four straight goals, including two on the man-up to lead 17-6 with 3:53 to go in the third. Sullivan accounted for two of the goals, while Polydoras and Jacob Lubrant had the other two.
The Keydets scored consecutive goals before Clark found the back of the net as time expired off a pass from Radke as the Vikings led 18-8 with one quarter to play.
Cleveland opened the final quarter with three goals by three different players; R. Haigh, Clark, and Care, taking their largest lead of the game, 21-8 with 9:06 left in the contest. Following two VMI goals, Joe DeDonatis capped off the scoring with an unassisted goal as the Vikings won easily, 22-10.
Inside the Box Score
R. Haigh finished with a season and career-best six goals, which are the second-most in a single game. He also added an assist to finish with seven points, also second-most in a game. In addition, he is five goals away from tying the season record.
Sullivan ended the contest with seven points on four goals and three assists. Clark also scored four goals in the game and added an assist. Matthews dished out three assists and added two goals to finish with five points.
Moskwa scooped up a game-best seven ground balls and was 12-of-19 in the faceoff circle. Cole Anderson was also strong on the x, finishing 7-of-12.
Drew Harder and Radke each had a game-best two caused turnovers. The Vikings used three different players in goal with Logan getting the start and win after making nine saves. Ryan Dunn and Connor Kernan each made a save when in the cage.
Cleveland State finished with program records for goals (22), points (36), and ground balls (50).
Alumni Recognition
The Vikings honored 14 alumni at halftime; Chase Baker, Gideon Brockenbrough, Justin Connor, Tristan Copeland, Noah Gleeson, Tristan Hanna, Rob Humphreys, Gage Johnson, Quinn Lemke, Stephen Masi, Nate Menendez, Jared Stepka, Danny Tesler, and Zach Whitenack.
Up Next
The Vikings will play their first-ever ASUN game on Saturday, April 2, traveling to Bellarmine for a noon start.
