CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State Vikings women's soccer team jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the 54th minute and held on for a 3-2 victory over visiting Youngstown State on Thursday evening at the Krenzler Bubble.
Elena Gutlove recorded her third multi-point match with a marker and an assist while Kathryn Ramicone found her first career goal and Chrstina Trickett scored for the second consecutive game.
Stevie Holbrook picked up the win, moving to 3-2-0 on the campaign. Holbrook made one save on two shots before exiting due to injury in the 55th minute. Miranda Thomas took over in relief and stopped two of three shots in her first action of the season.
THE GAME
After Youngstown State fired the first shot of the match in the third minute, the Vikings rattled off the next 10 shots over the next half hour. Trickett broke the scoreless tie in the 24th minute, taking a feed from Rylee Bussen on the left side of the attacking third before firing a shot that deflected off a Penguins defender into the right side of the net. The play marked the first career assist for Bussen, a sophomore out of Delaware, Ohio.
Youngstown State needed less than three minutes to counter when Abriana Rondin received a through ball past the Vikings' defense and managed to sneak one past past a charging Holbrook. Only 47 seconds later, Maddie Young nearly restored Cleveland State's lead, launching a rocket of a volley that sailed just over the net directly following a Lina Feltovich crossing attempt.
The Vikings, who outshot the Penguins 15-4 in the opening half, pulled ahead 2-1 when Elena Gutlove tallied her third goal of the year. Trickett sent the initial pass in before Young's shot attempt was blocked. Gutlove pounced on the loose ball and finished, tying her with Young for the team lead in goals (three).
With only seconds remaining in the half, Katie Sidloski nearly made it a two-goal cushion, beating the Penguis' keeper on a rebound attempt. However, it was ruled that the ball crossed the line after the first half clock expired, keeping the score 2-1.
Cleveland State took four of the first five shots in the second half, including the first career tally for Kathryn Ramicone. The freshman fired a shot from the right side of the box in the 54th minute to hand the Vikes a 3-1 lead.
Ramicone nearly struck again in the 70th minute, become the second Viking to have a shot hit the crossbar after Trickett did the same in the opening half.
The Penguins drew back within one with less than four minutes to play when a pass by Youngstown State's Regan LaVigna was inadvertently deflected in by the Vikings. Cleveland State held the visitors without a shot attempt over the final minutes for the 3-2 victory.
Trickett and Ramicone combined for 13 shots while Young and Gutlove contributed five and four, respectively. All four of Gutlove's looks were on target.
Overall, Cleveland State outshot Youngstown State by a 25-12 margin while both sides generated four corner kicks.
UP NEXT
The Vikings welcome defending Horizon League champion Milwaukee to the Krenzler Bubble for a 12:30 p.m. match next Wednesday, March 10.
