Sept. 5, 2004
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- Katie Schwager scored on a breakaway with 3:53 left as Duquesne upended Cleveland State, 1-0, on Sunday night at Foltz Field.
The score, which came with the Vikings one player short because of a red card to Shayna Back, came following a quick restart following a handball on a CSU player. Duquesne's Audra Mathews quickly played the ball ahead to Schwager, who had slipped behind the defense, and Schwager dribbled past Viking goalie Allie Zajaros and played the ball into the goal from 10 yards out.
"That was a very nice play by Duquesne," CSU head coach Derrek Falor said. "Unfortunately, they played it in so quickly that the ball never stopped and that isn't permitted. Still, they caught us napping as we got organized and it proved to be the game-winner."
The loss ruined a brilliant performance by Zajaros, who set a school record with 13 saves and kept the Vikings in the match despite being outshot, 29-2.
"That was the Allie Zajaros that I saw when I recruited her," Falor said. "She did a great job taking control of her box and she didn't panic when Duquesne came at us aggressively on offense."
Cleveland State, now 0-4 on the young season, turned in its best defensive effort of the year, repeatedly turning back the Duke offense with strong play in the box.
"Our defense did a good job this evening keeping its shape, doing a lot of bending without breaking," Falor said. "Our cover positions in the back were much stronger than on Friday night and we competed hard for 90 minutes."
"The difference between losing 1-0 and us possibly winning was that we did not stay composed on offense. We panicked a little and didn't take advantage of some good scoring opportunities."
The turning point in the match came in the 68th minute when Back was ejected from the game after aggressively stopping Duquesne's Eric Carey from racing past her towards a free ball put over her head. The red card forced the Vikings to play the final 22 minutes of the match short-handed. Duquesne responded by dominating the ball for the remainder of the game, keeping play on CSU's half.
"Shayna made a bad decision," Falor said. "We had three players back to cover on the play so it wasn't necessary for her to tackle the forward. The ejection put us into a position that we haven't really practiced yet, playing a man down for an extended period."
The Vikings resume their three-match home stand this week with matches against South Alabama on Friday (Sept. 10) and IUPUI on Sunday (Sept. 12) at Foltz Field in Strongsville.
