The team had a shaky season start against non-conference opponents, but now stand at 4-0 in the Horizon League
The Cleveland State University men’s soccer team started off the month of August with two preseason exhibition games. The Vikings first preseason game was against Western Michigan and ended in a 3-3 Tie. The second preseason game, the Vikings brought home a win, beating Notre Dame (OH) by a score of 3-0. Finally, to wrap up the month of August and start the season, the Vikings traveled to East Lansing to battle the Michigan State Spartans. Unfortunately the Vikings came up short suffering a 2-1 loss.
For the first full month of regular season play, the Vikings kicked off September with the home opener against Bowling Green with the Falcons taking a 3-0 win back home. The Falcons had 19 shots in the game, with 14 of them coming in the first half of their dominant win.
With a record of 0-2, the Vikings hosted St. Bonaventure. At last, the Vikings came away with a winning score of 2-3. CSU went into halftime down 2-1 but they would not be denied a win, scoring two goals in the second half. Junior Pablo Kawecki scored the winning goal in the 82nd minute off senior Jannis Schmidt’s second assist of the match.
After the win against St. Bonaventure, conference play was underway, and the Vikings responded with another conference game win. Following the St. Bonaventure game, the Vikings secured a 4-1 win at Green Bay, which included an explosion of four second half goals from the team. Sophomore Bojan Kolevski scored the first hat-trick of his career during the match.
Detroit Mercy was hosted by the Vikings for the third conference game this season with the Vikings securing a 0-2 win at home. Again, the team scored both goals in the second half.
With CSU on a three game winning streak- including two conference wins- the team traveled to Columbus to face Ohio State. The Vikings could hold off the Buckeyes for the first half but couldn’t manage the Buckeye attack as they scored two late second half goals, ending this game as a 2-0 final.
Despite the loss in Columbus, the Vikings bounced back winning a third consecutive conference game at Milwaukee. The second half trend continued as the Vikings scored three second half goals on the way to a 3-1 win.
The Vikings wrapped up September with a conference game against Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis last night at home. IUPUI and CSU were scoreless in the first half with IUPUI scoring the game’s first goal within minutes of the second half. Most notable during the game was an unassisted goal by Schmidt – the Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week – that brought the Vikings up 2 – 1. The Vikings went on to grab another goal bringing the final score to 3 – 1.
Through eight games, the Vikings have a record of 5-3, including a 4-0 in conference record. The win against IUPUI has poised the team to have their best Horizon League start since 2002.