Sept. 8, 2010

Contact: Brian McCann

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Match 6
Cleveland State (4-0-1) at Ohio State (4-1-1)
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m. EDT
Site: Jesse Owens Stadium (10,000), Columbus, Ohio
Series: First Meeting

Match 7
Ohio (1-2) at Cleveland State
Date: Friday, Sept. 10, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Krenzler Field (2,000), Cleveland, Ohio
Series: Ohio Leads, 2-1
Last Meeting: @Ohio 3, CSU 1 (9/6/09)

Match 8
Cleveland State at Bowling Green (0-4-1)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010
Time: 1:00 noon EDT
Site: Cochrane Field (700), Bowling Green, Ohio
Series: Bowling Green leads, 2-0
Last Meeting: @BG 6, CSU 0 (9/16/05)

SETTING THE SCENE: Off to their best start in the short history of women's soccer at Cleveland State, the Vikings will face their busiest week of the season, playing three matches in five days, including their first two road contests of the year. The week opens on Wednesday, Sept. 8 when CSU travels to Columbus to face Ohio State for the first time in program history, starting at 7:30 p.m. in Jesse Owens Stadium. The Vikings then return home to host Ohio on Friday, Sept. 10 at 7:00 p.m. and then CSU closes the busy week with a 1:00 p.m. match at Bowling Green on Sunday, Sept. 12. Cleveland State improved to 4-0-1 on the year when the Vikings shutout Missouri-Kansas City, 2-0, and routed Canisius, 3-1, over the weekend at Krenzler Field.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings continued their strong start by recording two more wins at home. Here is a synopsis of those matches:

Match 4: CSU 2, Missouri-Kansas City 0 (Sept. 3, Krenzler Field) Natalie Daniels scored on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute for the game-winner and later assisted on a Sylvia Olsby goal as the Vikings dominated Missouri-Kansas City, 2-0. CSU had a 17-4 edge in shots in the contest with Kelly Zinkiewich making one save to for her school record 10th career shutout.

Match 5: CSU 3, Canisius 1 (Sept. 5, Krenzler Field) Allie Riczo scored her first two goals of the season, both coming off corner kicks, and Natalie Daniels became CSU's career goal scoring leader by notching a marker in her fifth straight match as the Vikings kept their unbeaten streak intact with a 3-1 win over Canisius, a squad that CSU had lost to in all three previous meetings. Kelly Zinkiewich made seven saves for the Vikings.

2010 SEASON PREVIEW: The Vikings have started their seventh season of competition ready to continue the climb up the Horizon League standings. Despite an unhappy finish to the 2009 campaign, CSU had a strong showing during the spring season which has carried over to the fall, leading head coach Derrek Falor to once again raise his expectations for an upper division league finish. The strength of the Vikings is on the back line where four veterans form the nucleus of the unit. Senior Jessica McCloy returns after sitting out all but two matches last year following knee surgery and she is joined by junior Marina Taylor, who started 26 matches during her first two seasons, and the duo of sophomore Valerie Stahl and freshman Frederike Dubeau. Stahl started all 18 matches a year ago while Dubeau has been impressive in early season action. Senior Allie Riczo and junior Natalie Daniels are back and leading the midfield unit while seniors Sylvia Olsby and Nicole Howard and junior Jessica Bound have filled the other two spots. Seniors Marley Greiner and Olsby, sophomores Jaime Avona and Nikki Bevilacqua and freshman Taylor Vidovic each see action at forward. Senior Kelly Zinkiewich, a three-year starter who holds the CSU record with 321 career saves, is the incumbent in goal with freshman Parisa Sadrnia competing for playing time as well.

DANIELS BREAKS CAREER SCORING MARKS: With six goals in five matches this year, junior midfielder Natalie Daniels has broken a pair of CSU career scoring records. Her goal against Canisius on Sunday raised her career total to 13, allowing her to break the old mark of 12 held by Shayna Back and Jennifer Wieand. Daniels now has 35 career points, one more than the old career record of 34 set by Wieand. Daniels has one more career mark ahead as she needs just one assist to tie the record of 10 career assists, shared by Lisa Conway and Wieand.

ZINKIEWICH INCREASES SAVE RECORD: With eight saves in two matches last week, senior goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich extended her school record for career saves to 321, the seventh-highest total in Horizon League history. Zinkiewich, who owns the school career marks for saves and shutouts (10), is 26 saves shy of passing sixth place Kelcey Ervick (1991-93) of Xavier (347).

WAY AHEAD OF LAST YEAR: Having scored at least two goals in all five matches this year, the Vikings have already surpassed their goal total from 18 matches in 2009 and are well on their way to break the school record of 23, which was set in 2007. CSU has tallied 13 goals this year, one more than the 12 they scored a year ago.

. . . AND THE SAME IS TRUE AT THE OTHER END: The Vikings have allowed just five goals in the first five matches this season, which is easily the lowest number of goals to open the season. The record for fewest goals to start a campaign is nine, set in 2006. The record for fewest goals allowed in a season is 38, which was accomplished in 2008. Last year, CSU gave up 45 goals in 18 matches.

PENALTY KICKS: When Natalie Daniels converted a penalty kick to give CSU a 1-0 lead over Missouri-Kansas City on Friday, it marked just the second time in school history that a Viking converted a penalty kick. Daniels joined teammate Valerie Stahl, who accomplished it at Kent State in 2009. In seven years, CSU is two-for-three on penalty kicks while its opponents are 14-for-17.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: You can't blame Derrek Falor if he is looking forward to playing Ohio on Friday. After all, in opening the year with a 4-0-1 record during a CSU record five-match home stand, the Vikings have already tied the school record for home wins in a season, that coming when CSU went 4-4-1 in 2008. Counting the Ohio match, the Vikings have five home contests left this season.

NEXT UP: The Vikings play their final two non-league matches when CSU heads to Seattle, Wash. to play matches at Washington (Sept. 17) and Seattle (Sept. 19). It will be a homecoming for the five Viking regulars from the Pacific Northwest.