Nov. 5, 2010
Contact: Dan Carr
9:41 a.m. - Good morning from Indianapolis! Today CSU's men's soccer team will be facing its second consecutive ranked opponent, as the Vikings take on Butler in the final match of the regular season. Cleveland State defeated unbeaten and top-ranked Akron last Saturday, and will try to conclude the 2010 regular season by ruining Butler's perfect season. CSU is 8-9 (4-3 HL) on the season, while Butler is 15-0-1 (7-0 HL).
9:55 a.m. - Five minutes until the start of the match. Viking starters will be Brad Stuver in goal; Justin Cree, John Gulden, Christopher Koy and Zach Ellis-Hayden in the backfield; Jeff Baker, Brian Donnelly, Manuel Conde and John Wargo will be the midfielders; and the forwards will be Audric Kilroy and Aslinn Rodas.
9:59 a.m. - The teams are lining up at midfield, and we're getting ready for the national anthem. A Butler win today would make the Bulldogs the first team to go 8-0 in the Horizon League since 2001. The Vikings are entering the match with a lot of confidence - let's see if they can wreck Butler's perfect year.
10:05 a.m. - It's cold outside, and the wind is blowing steadily. The Vikings begin on the left side of the field going right. CSU has taken control of the opening possession.
10:06 a.m. - Corner kick by Manuel Conde sent into a wall of defenders.
10:11 a.m. - Adkins just stole the ball at midfield, passed it to Conde, who then sent it to John Wargo who had a fantastic one-on-one opportunity against the goalie but couldn't get off a shot.
10:14 a.m. - Butler takes a corner kick that Stuver pushes over the net. Second corner kick - Stuver can't get a hold of it, but Ellis Hayden makes a great save in front of the box. Third corner kick - worst of the bunch, CSU easily clears it.
10:16 a.m. - A foul leads to a free kick for Butler, but Stuver's having none of it. He makes the save and the game remains scoreless.
10:18 a.m. - Butler is having problems with its athletic website, so you may not have access to live stat tracking for at least the first half. The game is being broadcast on www.horizonleague.org if you'd like to watch your Vikings.
10:23 a.m. - Butler called offsides about 20 yards from our net, but it wouldn't have mattered. The Vikings defense is playing very well - outside of that corner kick, Butler hasn't had any good looks at the net.
10:24 a.m. - Manuel Conde takes a pass and has a great opportunity but sends it just wide. CSU was able to get the ball back but couldn't set anything up.
10:27 a.m. - Halfway through the period and still scoreless. Butler is passing the ball well, but our midfield is consistently forcing them to send those passes backwards.
10:29 a.m. - Butler's Jacob Capito broke away from our defender and fired a good shot, but Stuver makes a better save.
10:30 a.m. - Butler sends a shot that clearly goes over Stuver's head. Refs say that he touched it - nobody on the field, including Butler's players, believe that, but corner kick Butler. Stuver is out of position for the first shot but is saved by Ellis-Hayden making a brilliant save in front of the net. Butler gets another good look at the net, but this time Stuver is able to catch the ball.
10:33 a.m. - The Bulldogs' Kyle Pateros takes a breakaway pass and sends a shot toward the corner of our net, but Stuver flatout denies him. Tommy Fitzgerald has entered the game for CSU.
10:35 a.m. - Jordan Hart, who scored the game-winner against Akron, enters the match in place of John Wargo. Our defense is starting to bend, allowing Butler way too much time in our backfield, but it has yet to break. Another corner kick for the Bulldogs but Justin Cree is able to clear it.
10:38 a.m. - www.butlersports.com is back online and live stats are running. The Viings' defense is continuing to play well, but offensively we need to start pressing a little harder.
10:42 a.m. - Zach Ellis-Hayden is tripped, giving the Vikings a free kick from about 25 yards out. Manuel Conde takes it, and sends a good shot towards the goal - looked like the wind carried it a bit too far wide to the left.
10:44 a.m. - Getting a little chippy out there. Christopher Koy is given a yellow card after knocking a Butler player in the head. For the most part Koy is playing very well though - he just made a great play to force Butler to send the ball out of bounds. Possession CSU and we're moving back towards the Bulldogs' end.
10:47 a.m. - Ben Sippola for Butler gets a yellow for talking to the ref too much, but Butler also gets possession of the ball. CSU hasn't had a good look at the net in the past 20 minutes or so of play.
10:49 a.m. - One minute remaining in the first half.
10:51 a.m. - The entire final minute is spent with the Vikings controlling the ball on the Bulldogs' side of the field. Zach Ellis-Hayden has a chance with 10 seconds left but the ball ricochets off a defender out of bounds, and the Vikings don't have enough time to get off the corner kick. Halftime. CSU 0, Butler 0.
11:05 a.m. - The players for both teams entered the locker rooms inside Hinkle Fieldhouse at halftime - and nearly all the fans went inside with them. It is COLD outside.
11:08 a.m. - Second half is underway. CSU kicks it off to Butler, who promptly turns the ball back over to the Vikings.
11:14 a.m. - The Vikings have been attacking more, but a weak shot attempt by Conde is all they have to show for it early in the second half. Baker was tackled while trying to keep the ball in play, but no foul was called and Butler got a goal kick.
11: 24 a.m. - 29 minutes left in a second half that has been played mostly on Butler's end of the field. The Vikings are applying keeping the Bulldogs out of our end, but haven't been able to get off too many shot attempts.
11:31 a.m. - Halfway through the second period, still scoreless. The Vikings aren't letting too much get past them. I don't think Butler's had a shot attempt this half. If we continue playing this well defensively, we're going to get a shutout. Of course, if we don't get a little more aggressive on offense, we might not get a score either.
11:32 a.m. - And of course, as I brag about our defense, we almost give up a goal. Butler had a corner kick and the Bulldogs' Austin Oldham had a very good chance on a header, but it went wide left.
11:35 a.m. - Almost had a great one-on-one opportunity on a breakaway pass, but Audric Kilroy was offsides. John Wargo has re-entered the game, replacing Aaron Adkins. Matt McWilson is also in for John Gulden.
11:36 a.m. - McWilson gets the ball right in front of Butler's net, but can't handle the ball right and doesn't get off a shot. The Vikings are starting to play with a little more intensity on offense. Let's see if they can get a goal before this goes into overtime.
11:40 a.m. - CSU got away with one there - Stuver picked up a rolling ball and threw it towards McWilson, but it was stolen by Kyle Pateros of Butler who had no defenders by him. Pateros' shot went wide.
11:44 a.m. - Handball on Butler's JC Aikenhead gives CSU a free kick. Conde's cross-in deflects off a defender back to Ellis-Hayden, but his shot is too high.
11:46 a.m. - Another free kick for CSU. Donnelly sends a pass to Jeff Baker who gets off a nice shot, but the Bulldogs' Fabian Knopfler makes a good save.
11:49 a.m. - Corner kick for Butler leads to a shot that bounces off the post. Easily the best scoring opportunity either team has had this half. Just under four minutes to go in the period, with the score still tied at 0.
11:51 a.m. - Fantastic chance for CSU that the Vikings just couldn't turn into a goal. Audric Kilroy sent a pass to a wide open John Wargo, but the shot was off target and the goalkeeper got a hand on the ball. One minute left in the second half.
11:53 a.m. - And we head into overtime. Cleveland State had the ball in front of the Butler net for most of the last three minutes but the Bulldogs' defense didn't allow for too many shot attempts. The Vikings are 0-2 in overtime matches this season; they have some momentum with they way they were controlling the ball at the end of the second half though, so hopefully they can keep it going. Butler 0, CSU 0.
11:56 a.m. - Officials are ending the intermission early, so the first overtime half is starting a little sooner than expected. The refs are probably cold, it's still chilly and windy.
11:59 a.m. - Tremendous goal kick by Stuver - the ball went more than 50 yards into the wind, but CSU couldn't do anything with it. Ball went back to Butler, who ultimately had a throw in that went right to the CSU net. Stuver caught the ball. We play on.
12:01 p.m. - Ben Sippola gets a free kick for Butler after Tyler Pollock is tackled, but the Vikings' defenders play it very well.
12:03 p.m. - Yellow card issued to Zach Ellis-Hayden after he made too strong of a tackle diving for the ball. Butler's free kick goes past the goal and out of bounds.
12:05 p.m. - Butler was clearly offside on a crossing pass that left a forward wide open in front of the net. Our defense was on top of it though; no harm, no foul - or offside call - I guess.
12:10 p.m. - Back to back corner kicks for CSU. Some bad bounces prevented any shot attempts however, and we're going into a second overtime period.
12:11 p.m. - Two-minute intermission before the final 10 minutes of play. CSU has only played one other double-overtime match this season, a home contest vs. Milwaukee. That match was also scoreless going into the second overtime period, but Milwaukee managed to score and win, 1-0. Hopefully we don't get a repeat of that today.
12:13 p.m. - The Vikings have the wind, still blowing strongly, at their backs for this period. That will give them a little bit of an advantage; let's see if they can do anything with that advantage.
12:15 p.m. - Another great save by Stuver, as he punched the ball away while falling. Corner kick for Butler.
12:16 p.m. - Stuver catches the corner kick, but lands a little awkwardly. He seems fine though.
12:18 p.m. - Julian Cardona of Butler gets off a great shot. Stuver makes a fantastic save, but Butler gets a rebound shot that fortunately goes high.
12:21 p.m. - Under two minutes left in the game. CSU is trying to push the ball downfield, while Butler looks like its just trying to play out the clock.
12:23 p.m. - And the game goes final. Butler 0, CSU 0. The Vikings prevented Butler's 8-0 conference season and picked up their first tie of the season. Cleveland State ends the 2010 regular season with a record of 8-9-1, and will start play in the Horizon League Championship playoffs on Tuesday. Their seeding will depend on the outcomes of the Loyola-UIC and the Detroit-Valparaiso matches, both of which will be played tomorrow.
12:26 p.m. - Some final stats: Brad Stuver finishes with seven saves. The Vikings were outshot 21-8, and Butler held a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal. Both teams had 17 fouls. A recap with complete stats will be available on CSUVikings.com shortly. Thanks for following along!
