Oct. 31, 2009
Contact: Renee Adam
Cleveland, Ohio - Slavisa Ubiparipovic recorded the lone goal of the match in the 82nd minute, giving Cleveland State the 1-0 shutout over Butler on Senior Night at Krenzler Field. The win snapped Butler's eight match unbeaten streak and also gave the Vikings a perfect 5-0-1 record at Krenzler Field this season. CSU is now perfect at home over the past two seasons with a combined record of 11-0-2.
"We played with a lot of heart tonight and refused to lose," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "Butler is a good solid team and they were all over us during the second half. This was one of those games where you needed to be able to finish plays and Slavisa was able to finish the play to give us the 1-0 lead."
Ubiparipovic had an open shot from five yards on the left side of the box, putting the ball right under the cross bar into the back of the net, beating Butler goalie, Fabian Knopfler. Marco DiFranco and Admir Suljevic both recorded assists on the game-winning goal. The goal marked the fifth of the season for Ubiparipovic, and his first game-winning goal.
Brad Stuver posted the shutout for the Vikings, recording seven saves, giving him 45 career saves and two career shutouts.
"This was a hard fought game, and we definitely played better during the first half, but we came into the second half focused and we kept ourselves in the game until the very end," Kazemaini said. "Brad Stuver played great in the goal for us tonight, he had a great save at the end of the match that secured the win for us."
Butler had the advantage in shots, 14-8 and shots on goal, 7-5 throughout the contest, but the Bulldogs were never able to convert any of their shots. Suljevic recorded two shots on goal for the Vikings, with Bryan Henson, Aaron Adkins and Ubiparipovic each adding one.
The CSU men's soccer team honored the 12 seniors on the roster tonight; Anthony Baraldi, Mike Barton, Mitch Boyer, Stephen Byer, Marco DiFranco, Bryan Henson, Davon Jones, Kevin Malone, Brian Murphy, Eric Tattersall, Slavisa Ubiparipovic and Josh Williams who have played in 26 matches at Krenzler Field with a record of 14-9-3.
With the win, CSU improves to 7-6-4 on the season and 4-1-2 in the Horizon League, moving into second place in the conference standings with one more week of regular season play.
The Vikings will close out the season when they travel to Valparaiso on Saturday (Nov. 7) for a 2:00 p.m. EDT contest.
