Aug. 21, 2003

CLEVELAND - The Cleveland State men's soccer team got three early goals and coasted to a 3-1 victory over Mercyhurst in a pre-season scrimmage Thursday night at Krenzler Field.

Junior Spencer Lappin opened the scoring with a close-in strike about 15 minutes into the match. Freshman Nick Ademolu added the second marker on a header about 15 minutes later, while sophomore David Carmichael finished a cross by Ademolu about 40 minutes into the match to put the Vikings up 3-0. Mercyhurst got on the board with about 15 minutes remaining, when a breakaway shot got past freshman goalkeeper Josh Cain and found the bottom right corner of the net.

"This was a very satisfactory first outing for a group with so many new faces," head coach Pete Curtis said. "Everyone saw a good amount of time, and I was pleased with the contributions of the new players."

The game marked the first collegiate action for eight new players, including five true freshmen. In addition, the Vikings played with multiple combinations on defense, trying to tighten up an area that was a weakness a year ago.

"The defense played quite well," Curtis said. "In the past, we've played defense individually, not as a group. We had a collaborative effort on defense from our team today."

The Vikings open up the regular season Aug. 29 against Temple.