ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Cleveland State men's soccer team was unable to overcome a slow start against Oakland on Thursday afternoon, falling 3-2 in #HLMSOC action.
Jannis Schmidt and Bojan Kolevski both scored in the loss while Saahb Kular recorded his first two assists of the season. Omeed Naeemy made a pair of saves while facing nine shots.
THE GAME
Cleveland State surrendered a pair of tallies over the opening nine minutes of the match to enter an early 2-0 hole.
The Vikes began to find their footing over the next 15 minutes, pulling ahead 5-4 in shots. In the 20th minute, Bojan Kolevski drove down the left sideline before using a nice give-and-go play with Andrew Nicholas to create a shot at the top of the 18 that sailed just wide of the left post.
Only five minutes later, Kolevski continued to find his rhythm in the attacking third, feeding Pablo Kawecki inside the box for a left-footed attempt that was saved by Oakland keeper Finn Jurak.
Cleveland State put the ball in the back of the net in the 40th minute but was the victim of some bad luck. Directly following a corner kick, Thomas M'Barek fired a shot that was stopped by the arm of a Golden Grizzlies defender. The rebound deflected out to Schmidt, who seemingly scored on the open net.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, the whistle was blown prior to the marker, taking the goal off the board but resulting in a red card on Oakland. After the ensuing penalty kick was swallowed up by Jurak with a diving effort low on the right side, the Vikes headed to the break facing a two-goal deficit.
Cleveland State fell behind 3-0 on a penalty kick less than three minutes into the second frame, but the Vikes answered only 19 seconds later on Kolevski's fourth goal of the campaign. The freshman crashed the box and took a ball in the air from Kular before controlling the pass in the air with a soft touch and finishing from six yards out, pulling the Vikings back within a pair at 3-1.
In the 59th minute Kawecki found a cutting Pellegrini on a nice triangle passing play for a left-footed shot that nearly snuck past a charging Jurak.
The Vikings made things interesting on a free kick from the left side of the attacking third in the 87th minute when Nicholas fired a ball to the head of Kular, who flicked it ahead onto the foot of Schmidt for an easy tap-in to cut the lead to 3-2.
Nick McCausland played a ball into the box in the final minutes, but Kular's attempted header was stymied by the Golden Grizzlies' back line.
Cleveland State outshot Oakland 19-9 and peppered Jurak with 10 shots on goal, but the Golden Grizzlies keeper totaled eight saves, including four over the final 45 minutes.
Pellegrini shot four times, including three on goal, while Schmidt and Kawecki logged three shots apiece.
UP NEXT
The Vikings play their final road match of the season at second-place UIC next Wednesday, March 24. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. from Indoor Sports Center in Loves Park, Illinois as Cleveland State looks to secure a place in the Horizon League Championships this April.
