Sept. 4, 2005

Final Stats

Contact: Brian McCann

ATHENS, Ohio -- Abbie Kakias scored in the opening minutes of the second half to pull Cleveland State to within a goal, but Ohio University responded with three unanswered goals to topple the Vikings, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon at OU's Chessa Field.

After the Vikings trailed 2-0 at the intermission, Kakias took a cross from Jennifer Wieand and beat Bobcat netminder Melissa Parra at the 50:54 mark.

Cleveland State continued to control play until the 67th minute when a Viking defender was called for a foul in the box, allowing Tiffany Horvath to score on a penalty kick to increase the Ohio advantage to 3-1. It was Horvath's secnd goal of the match.

CSU could not rally after that as Stephanie Crosby and Alyssa Zimmerman each scored in the final 20 minutes to provide the final margin.

"We were slow getting out of the gate again this afternoon and we allowed Ohio to get up a couple of goals on us," CSU head coach Derrek Falor said.

"We came out of halftime playing like a totally different team and played like we did last week against Kent State. Then an unfortuante call went against us in the box which led to a Ohio goal on a penalty kick and we couldn't maintain our intensity after that.

"Ohio is far and away the best team that we have played this year," Falor added. "They really applied the pressure early and were able to match our intensity in the second half when we pressed. That is the sign of a good team."

Horvath opened the scoring 12 minutes into the match when she took a pass from Erika Schmitt and scored into the top left corner of the goal from 15 yards out. Maggie Rojas-Alford added a marked from 18 yards out at teh 39:44 mark to give the Bobcats a 2-0 halftime lead.

The Viking offense continues to develop. CSU took a season-high 11 shots in the contest, the second-highest single match total in team history.

"The results don't show it right now, but this is a much better team than last year and we are continuing to get better," Falor said.

"I was impressed today with the play of (freshman) Missy Boehm. She absolutely is shutting down everything on her side of the field on defense and she blocked at least three shots by herself today."

The Vikings close out their season-opening four match road trip at Akron on Friday night (Sept. 9) at 7:30 p.m. before returning home for their first match ever on Krenzler Field when they host Valparaiso on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 1:00 p.m.