The  Cleveland State women's soccer team (4-4-0) continues its late-season push with its final road match of the season on Tuesday afternoon, traveling to Canonsuburg, Pennsylvania for its first meeting with Robert Morris since 2013. The Vikings fell behind 2-0 early in the second half against Green Bay last week but erupted for four unanswered tallies from four different players in a 4-2 come-from-behind win over the Phoenix. The explosion marked Cleveland State's first four-goal half since 2017 and its first time winning a match in which it faced a two-goal deficit in the second half since a 3-2 overtime win over Detroit Mercy during the same season. At 4-4-0, the Vikings rank sixth in the #HLWSOC standings.

 

...move the Vikings back above .500 on the year and give head coach Dallas Boyer an opportunity at his third winning record in four seasons at the helm of the program. If a victory was paired with losses or draws from UIC and Oakland, it would also keep Cleveland State's postseason hopes alive heading into the final week of the regular season while giving the Vikings a 5-2 record in the head-to-head series against the Colonials, including three straight victories.

 

Robert Morris (1-6-0) has dropped three straight matches since beating Purdue Fort Wayne 4-2 on March 3, falling to Oakland, Wright State and Detroit Mercy by a combined 11-1. The Colonials' offense is led by Sheridan Reid, who has four points on the year with a goal and two assists. Goalkeeper Courtney Worstell has recorded a .707 save percentage and a 2.69 goals-against average across five appearances, including four starts.

 

The Vikings still have a chance to sneak into the #HLWSOC Championships, but any hopes of a postseason run start with winning their final two matches against Robert Morris and Detroit Mercy, two of the bottom four teams in the conference standings. With a pair of victories, Cleveland State would finish at 1.8 points per match, which js the determining factor in seeding in the Horizon League this spring. The Vikings will need some outside help from Oakland and UIC as both teams need to lose or draw their final two matches.

 

In last week's 4-2 home win over Green Bay, four different Vikings found the back of the net: Kathryn Ramicone, Christina Trickett, Megan Bine and Ja'Maya Ward. For Bine and Ward, it marked their first goals of the campaign. The contest also represented the first time Cleveland State saw four different goal-scorers in the same match since a 5-0 win over the Phoenix on October 6, 2018. Both Ward and Essence Canady scored in that victory.

 

The Vikings have won three of four matches on home turf this season, continuing a trend of success at Krenzler Field under head coach Dallas Boyer. Since Boyer took over the program ahead of the 2017-18 campaign, Cleveland State owns an 11-4-1 mark at home during conference play.

 

Maddie Young is tied for second in the Horizon League lead in scoring with 11 points on the year while Elena Gutlove and Kathryn Ramicone rank inside the top 10 with eight and seven points, respectively. Christina Trickett is not far behind, collecting six points thus far. Young and Ramicone are tied for seventh in assists with three each. Young is tied as the conference's top goal-scorer with four tallies and Gutlove and Trickett are tied for second with three. 

 

Young and Gutlove rank second and third, respectively, in shots in #HLWSOC. Young has rattled off 27 attempts, averaging 3.38 per match.  Young rattled off nine shots against Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 25, the second-highest single game shot total by a Viking in team history. Gutlove also accomplished the feat on Feb. 10 against Wright State. The Vikings each of the three highest indidivual single-game shot toals in the Horizon League in 2021 and two of the three highest team totals (28 and 25).

 

Cleveland State is first in the Horizon League in shots (115) and shots on goal (62). The Vikes also lead the conference in corners (46), rank tied for first in goals (15) and third in assists (12). As a team, Cleveland State is outshooting the opposition  57-39 after the opening half, including 5-1 in overtime periods. Overall, the Vikings average 14.4 shots per match compared to only 10.1 by the opposition.