Oct. 9, 2010
Final Stats
Contact: Dan Carr
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State remained patient through a tight match dominated by solid defense from both teams, and was rewarded when Aslinn Rodas scored his second goal of the season and gave the Vikings a 1-0 victory over Valparaiso on Saturday, Oct. 9.
"We knew this would be a tight game," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "The kids showed a lot of character, bending but not breaking, and when an opportunity to score finally came they took advantage."
Valparaiso and CSU played nearly 86 scoreless minutes before Aaron Adkins found Rodas on a breakaway pass. Rodas' shot went past the goalkeeper and ricocheted off the post before finally landing in the net.
"That was a great feed from Adkins and a great finish from Aslinn," Kazemaini said.
While the goal from Rodas was the lone offensive highlight of the night, the defense had a number of great plays to preserve the shutout. Despite being outshot 9-7, and being at a 14-4 disadvantage as far as fouls being called, the defense persevered and kept the Crusaders from finding the net.
Valparaiso had several opportunities to break the scoreless tie first, but none was better than in the 69th minute. The Crusaders had five corner kicks in a row, as each attempt to set up a scoring opportunity was ended by a Viking clearing the ball out of bounds.
"Our players showed me a lot tonight," Kazemaini said. "You can't just dominate every game, and in this one, we had to clear five corners at once at one point. But they did, and they kept playing for the entire night, and they earned this victory."
The win improved Cleveland State to 6-6, including a 3-2 record in Horizon League play. Valparaiso fell to 6-4-2, with a 1-4-0 mark in the conference.
"This was a big win, as far as conference play is concerned," Kazemaini said. "We still need to wrap up one of the spots for the playoffs, but this win gives us the confidence to go approach the remaining conference matches one game at a time. We now know we can weather the storm when we are forced to play on our heels, and we can finish a tight match, as we did tonight."
On Monday (Oct. 11) the Vikings will enter their busiest week of the season, beginning with a non-conference match against Buffalo. That contest will begin at 4:00 p.m. They will then play two matches on the road the following weekend, including a 4:00 p.m. match at Detroit on Friday (Oct. 15) and a contest at IUPUI on Sunday (Oct. 17) at 1:00 p.m.
