Oct. 6, 2007

Final Stats

Contact: Stefan Scheibelhoffer

Cleveland, Ohio -- Mitch Boyer scored his first goal of the season on a penalty shot in the 83rd minute and Nick Harpel made six saves in goal as Cleveland State battled to a 1-1 double overtime tie against preseason Horizon Lague favorite UIC on Friday night at Krenzler Field.

The tie improves CSU to 3-5-3 overall while UIC drops to 4-3-3. The match served as the Horizon League opener for each team.

"We are starting to play pretty well as a team," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "Our defense did a nice job of limiting their opportunities tonight and keep us in the game. When we needed to apply some pressure and even the match late, we were able to do so.

UIC took a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute when Pavle Dundjer was the recipient of a bit of good fortune. Dundjer was carrying the ball in transition towards the Viking goal and his shot from just outside the box appeared to be headed wide before it deflected off a CSU defender and found the corner of the goal.

UIC had a 14-7 lead in shots in the contest and appeared to be headed toward the shutout victory until the Vikings caught a break.

As the Vikings applied pressure to find the equalizer, the Flames were caught off guard, being called for a foul when a CSU attacker was taken down in the box and CSU was awarded a penalty shot at the 83:21 mark. Boyer left no doubt with the shot, beating UIC netminder Jovan Bubonja.

UIC had a 5-1 edge in shots in the two overtime periods but could not find the net as Harpel made one save.

The Vikings return to action on Sunday when they host Loyola 4-3-3, 0-0-2 at Krenzler Field.