Men's Soccer Outlasts Cleveland State 4-2 in Penalty Kicks

Scoreless game ends with two key penalty kick saves by Stikl

Adam Stikl had two saves during the penalty kick round against Cleveland State Friday.

Nov. 9, 2007

GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Green Bay men's soccer team (9-4-6) managed to tally its team record-tying 10th shutout of the season Friday against Cleveland State in the first round of the Horizon League Championship, but since the Vikings held Green Bay scoreless as well through 110 minutes, the first round bout went into penalty kicks.

There, Green Bay proceeded to convert all four of its attempts while junior goalkeeper Adam Stikl (Milwaukee, Wis.) came up with two saves on Cleveland State spot kicks to advance the Phoenix 4-2 in kicks.

Green Bay shooters David Prochazka (Gothenberg, Sweden), David Znaty (Hadera, Israel), Mike McCormack (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Tosaint Ricketts (Edmonton, Alberta) all drilled their shots uncontested on Cleveland State goalkeeper Nick Harpel.

Stikl, who made two saves in 110 minutes of work, stopped Cleveland State's second and fourth tries, with his diving parry to his right on Mitch Boyer's shot sealing the result.

Green Bay will face Butler Sunday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. in the quarterfinal round of the Horizon League Championship. The winner will take on No. 1 seed Loyola Friday, Nov. 15 in semifinal action.

The Phoenix had its fair amount of chances to win in regulation. In the 64th minute, Lati Ziba (South Milwaukee, Wis.) played a through ball over the top of Znaty that got the sophomore midfielder behind the Cleveland State defense. But CSU's Harpel made a big save to the far post.

Then, in the 74th minute, Green Bay had a pair of shots in the span of three seconds that could not find the back of the net. McCormack had a point-blank shot on Harpel that was saved, with a rebound try by Ilya Ksenidi (West Allis, Wis.) was deflected by the near post.

Green Bay's last chance came in the 93rd minute when Glenn Herzog (Milwaukee, Wis.) soared over the Cleveland State defense on a service by Mike Voigtlander (Vadnais Heights, Minn.), only to have his header denied by the crossbar.

The Phoenix finished with a 13-9 shots advantage and a 7-1 mark on corner kicks.