MATCH #11
Cleveland State (5-4-1, 2-2-0) at IUPUI (3-6-2, 2-1-1)
Saturday, Oct. 19 | 4:00 p.m.
Indianapolis, Ind. | Michael A. Carroll Stadium
Stats | Video

THE OPENING KICK
Cleveland State opens the second half of Horizon League play on the road as it seeks its first three-game winning streak of the campaign.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
IUPUI enters with a 3-6-2 overall record on the campaign. After earning results in three of their first four matches, the Jaguars have won just once in their past seven. However, IUPUI sits in third place in the league table as it claimed wins over Northern Kentucky and Green Bay and a draw at Milwaukee. IUPUI came from behind in the second half to earn all three of their league results. Five of the Jags' six losses have been by one goal with their setback at Oakland last time out being the exception. Yan Souza and Alan Aguilar top the team with four and three goals, respectively, while Gianni Catenacci leads the Jags with four assists. Quinn McCallion has played every minute in goal and has a .786 save percentage.

AGAINST THIS OPPONENT
Cleveland State is 1-3-2 all-time against IUPUI in a series that dates back to 1999. The squads will be meeting as Horizon League foes for the third time. CSU won a 2-1 decision in 2017 before the sides played to a 1-1 draw last season in Ohio. Gabriel Pewu scored from Thomas M'Barek in last season's meeting, but the Jags equalized in the final minute. Two years ago, it was the Vikings who scored in the final minute, claiming a 2-1 win in the process. In four of the past five meetings, a goal has been scored in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Neither side has ever won in the series by more than one goal.

LAST TIME OUT
Cleveland State claimed a 2-0 win over Duquesne this past Tuesday as Lawrence Karpeh and Andrew Nicholas scored on either side of halftime. CSU kept the clean sheet for its third shutout of the season. The match was the final in a string of three straight non-league fixtures for CSU.

GOALS FOR GABRIEL
Senior Gabriel Pewu tallied two goals and an assist in the team's 3-2 win at Ohio State. He headed home a goal for the second straight match after also doing so at Cincinnati. His team-leading six goals have tied his career high as he has five regular-season matches remaining. Pewu is tied for second in the Horizon League in goals per game vs. Division I foes.

POWERING PAST POWER FIVE
With its win Oct. 12 at Ohio State, the Vikings claimed their second result this season against a Power Five opponent. In fact, Cleveland State is now 3-0-1 in its past four matches against Power Five foes, all of which have come on the road. The Vikings have scored 11 total goals in these matches and came back from deficits in two of the matches to earn a result.

OH SO CLOSE
In all four of Cleveland State's losses this season, the Vikings came up one goal short. Only twice in CSU's 10 matches this season has a team won a match by more than one goal.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
After posting its third shutout of the season this past week, Cleveland State has allowed no more than one goal in seven matches this season. The Vikings now lead the Horizon League in total goals allowed (11) and goals against average (1.06).

GAINING STEAM
Senior Lawrence Karpeh sits second on the team in goals (4) and points (9). Karpeh has a point in four of the past five matches, including scoring in each of the past two. He scored at Ohio State for a second straight season, finding the net via a header for the first time since he was a freshman. He then scored what proved to be the winning goal last time out, converting a penalty kick that he had drawn.

BEATING THE BUCKEYES AGAIN
Cleveland State claimed a 3-2 win at Ohio State last weekend as Gabriel Pewu had a brace and Lawrence Karpeh also scored. CSU went up 2-0 only to see the Buckeyes find the equalizers in a span of fewer than 30 seconds, neither of which came from the run of play. However, Pewu broke the deadlock fewer than three minutes later with his winning strike. It marked the second straight season in which CSU won at Ohio State.

WORKING (AND WINNING IN) OVERTIME
Cleveland State posted a 2-1 victory over Northern Kentucky in overtime Sept. 21. The Vikings' most recent previous overtime victory had come in the 2015 Horizon League Tournament. At the time, it marked CSU's first win in extra time in its past 57 matches and its first win in its past 13 overtime matches.

VIKING DEBUTANTS:
Twenty of the 21 outfield Vikings have played this season. Seven Vikings have made their NCAA soccer debut this season, six outfield players and goaltender Omeed Naeemy. Naeemy, freshman Pablo Kawecki and transfer Andrew Nicholas are the three debutants to start a match thus far this season.

ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL:
Trailing 2-0 with under 20 minutes to play in the season opener at Louisville, Cleveland State rallied to earn a result. It was the first time in CSU's last 50 matches that it had rallied from a multi-goal deficit to earn a result. The most recent such occurrence had come at Robert Morris in August 2016. CSU has now come from behind to earn a result at least once in 14 consecutive seasons and has achieved the feat on the road in nine straight seasons.

ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL, PART II
Trailing 1-0 with under five minutes to play in the HL home opener, Cleveland State rallied to claim the win. The Vikings tied the match in the 86th minute before winning it in the 100th minute on a Gabriel Pewu strike. It was the second time this season the Vikings scored two goals in under 15 minutes to turn a deficit into a result.

ALRIGHT AGAINST ACC:
In earning a 2-2 tie against Louisville to open its season, Cleveland State secured a result against an ACC side for the fourth year in the last five seasons. The Vikings took down Pittsburgh on the road last season, 4-3.

LEADING THE CHARGE:
Cleveland State is under the direction of first-year head coach Sinisa Ubiparipovic in 2019. Ubiparipovic, who attended high school and college in Northeast Ohio, was elevated after previously serving as the program's top assistant. He appeared in over 200 professional soccer matches, including an even 100 in the Major League Soccer (MLS) ranks with New York Red Bulls and Montreal Impact.

FREE KICKS:

• Cleveland State did not allow a shot on goal in its win last time out over Duquesne
• Cleveland State has won its first four home matches for the first time since 1987
• CSU has outscored its opposition 9-1 at home this season
• Andrew Nicholas' goal last time out was his first as a collegian
• Nicholas' assist vs. Robert Morris was his first college point
• Pablo Kawecki scored his first collegiate goal at Cincinnati and notched his first assist last time out
• Stjepan Mijic-Barisic started for the first time this season, and second in his career, last time out
• Thomas Bielanski notched the first multi-assist match of his career at Ohio State
• CSU has erased a deficit with back-to-back goals within 15 minutes of each other in three matches this season
• Four Vikings—Lawrence Karpeh, Ryan Kolonick, Omeed Naeemy and Hayden Parente—have started all 10 matches this season
• Jannis Schmidt totaled a goal and two assists in the first two matches of the season
• CSU's win over Northern Kentucky was its first in the five all-time meetings between the teams
• CSU has now scored three goals after the 85th minute in the last two meetings with NKU
• Thomas M'Barek's goal vs. Robert Morris was the first of his collegiate career
• Omeed Naeemy notched his first shutout as a collegian vs. Robert Morris
• Naeemy has three shutouts on the season
• Gabriel Pewu was named HL Offensive Player of the Week Oct. 14
• Omeed Naeemy was named HL Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 30
• Jannis Schmidt was named HL Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 3
• Fifty two of Cleveland State's last 77 goals have come in the second half. In fact, 18 of those goals have taken place in the 77th minute or later
• The last seven Cleveland State head coaches combined to post a 5-0-2 record in their first game as the Vikings' head coach

PRESEASON FREE KICKS:

• Vlad Jandric and Thomas M'Barek were both selected All-Horizon League Second Team in 2018
• It was the second straight season that Jandric earned all-conference honors
• Cleveland State returns 17 student-athletes from last year's roster, 16 of which competed in a match
• Six Vikings return that started at least 10 matches last season, with five of those six competing in at least 14 of the squad's 15 fixtures in 2018
• CSU has eight newcomers on the roster, four true freshmen and four transfers
• Thomas M'Barek was the only Viking to start all 15 matches last season
• Gabriel Pewu and Jannis Schmidt were the other returning Vikings to play in all 15 fixtures in 2018
• Cleveland State is facing at least one Big Ten opponent for the third straight year and an ACC foe for the fifth time in six seasons
• The Vikings will face four of the top 40 programs from last season's final RPI, including two of the top five
• Cleveland State has earned a top-four seed in the HL Tournament seven times since the league went to a six-team format, which is the highest such figure among its league peers
• Cleveland State won consecutive matches at Ohio State and at Pittsburgh last season, the first time since 1984 the Vikings won back-to-back matches against teams currently in a Power Five conference
• Cleveland State's win at Ohio State last season was its first victory over the Buckeyes since 1996 (though the sides have not played every year since then)
• With a 2-0 win at Ohio State last year, Cleveland State has now shut out a Power Five side in three of the past four seasons and six of the past nine
• The Vikings twice rallied from deficits to claim a 4-3 win at Pitt, scoring the winning goal with under six minutes remaining
• Gabriel Pewu had six goals and an assist in the final 11 matches last season
• Vlad Jandric had a hat trick in last year's 3-1 win over UIC, the first by a Viking since 2013
• The Vikings were only outshot once in Horizon League play last season
• Among the 75 starts made by Vikings on defense or in goal last season: 31 starts were made by true freshman or redshirt freshman, 40 starts were made by sophomores with two starts by a junior and two by a senior
• Ryan Kolonick led all CSU freshmen with 11 starting assignments last season
• Thomas M'Barek was named Academic All-Horizon League in 2018
• Noah Pio has joined the Viking coaching staff as a student assistant after playing for CSU the past three seasons