Sept. 10, 2010
Final Stats
Contact: Dan Carr
DeKALB, Ill. - Northwestern capitalized on a Cleveland State own goal, and added two quick scores early in the second half to give the Wildcats a 4-0 victory over the Vikings.
The match, played on a neutral field at Northern Illinois, was the first contest in the 2010 NIU Adidas/Magnuson Inn Invitational.
Cleveland State's defense was solid for the first half of play. Outside of a bad bounce off the back of a Viking 4:09 into the match that resulted in an own goal, the Vikings shut down the Northwestern attack.
"I thought we outplayed them in the first half," Coach Ali Kazemaini said.
Northwestern's Oliver Kupe gave the Wildcats some momentum early in the second half. Kupe scored twice in less than a minute, both times off quick cross passes in front of the goal.
Despite the lopsided loss, Kazemaini thought his team played pretty well.
"I'm disappointed with the results," Kazemaini said. "And I'm disappointed with how we gave up the goals. But I'm not disappointed with how we've played as a team."
Viking goalkeeper Brad Stuver recorded six saves in the loss.
"Stuver is playing well," Kazemaini said. "He makes the saves that he's supposed to make, and he's remained very confident, which can be hard when your offense isn't scoring more goals. He made some good stops, and the goals he allowed were not because of mistakes he made."
Cleveland State came into the match shorthanded. Several Viking starters have been injured during the first two weeks of the season, including starting forwards Aaron Adkins and Admir Suljevic and midfielder Justin Mancine.
"We've been hit with injuries, and our starting lineup lacks experience," Kazemaini said. "It's been good to get a look at some of the freshmen, and we can afford that right now. Hopefully though we'll get a few of these guys back before we open conference play in a couple weeks."
Kazemaini was happy with the play of several of his freshmen, but would like to see them cut down on the mistakes.
"I think some of the freshmen are playing very well," Kazemaini said. "The problem is not that we are getting outplayed, it's that we are just making mistakes. Some of the younger guys get so shocked when we give up a score and start to lose their focus.
"We just need to keep the freshmen's spirits up, and to help them cut down on the mistakes on the field. When they have the ball, they are doing some good things. We can afford to continue looking at these guys in these non-conference games, we just can't afford to continue making unnecessary mistakes."
The loss drops CSU to 1-2 on the year. Northwestern, which was ranked ninth in the preseason in the national coaches' poll, improved to 1-2 on the season.
The Vikings will be back on the field on Sunday (Sept. 12) for a match with the Invitational's host, Northern Illinois. The contest is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
