In last night's home soccer game, Penn State failed to make up for Cleveland State's early goal and suffered its eighth shutout of the season in a 1-0 loss. Although the Lions (7-9-2) controlled the ball on the Vikings side of the field for most of the game and outshot Cleveland State, 13-5, they never came up with a successful execution on the goal.

"Man for man, we're probably the most talented team in our side of the state," midfielder Nigel Sparks said. "If we work hard and we apply the skills, we can dominate any game. Which is what we do, (but) we just can't put the ball in the net."

"We kept it (the ball) in their end most of the time," defender Peter Daigle said. "We had one mental lapse, and they capitalized on it. It's the same old story we've been going through. We give up stupid little mistakes. "

Cleveland State (11-4-1) surprised Penn State when it scored its first and only goal after only 2:29 elapsed in the game. The ball rolled into the cage when midfielder Nick Stavrou slipped the ball past Lion goalie Mike Imm off a pass from Mick Ruggiero.

"One of their men slipped it from the midfield and the ball had a lucky skip," Daigle said. "He (Stavrou) was there at the right time, at the right place, and just knocked it in."

"It was a quick play on their part, a good goal," Coach Barry Gorman said. "We were caught a little lax."

In the first half, the Lions recorded six shots on goal. One close call for the Vikings came about ten minutes into the game, when forward Jan Skorpen took a pass from midfielder Dan Gil and shot at the goal. But, Vikings goalie Blake New knocked the ball out of danger.

This type of play came often. Penn State repeatedly ran up the on side of the goal, with Gil passing the ball off to the center for a Lion shot on goal. But the ball was always stopped by New before making it into the cage. New, who holds Cleveland State's record for shutouts with 28, improved his season total to 7.5.

With pressure on the Lions to score, they aggressively came into the second half, ready to attack.

In the first few minutes of play, Penn State broke away twice, running toward Cleveland State's goal. First, midfielder Danny Kelly passed to Skorpen for a shot, but New made the stop. On another attempt, Kelly controlled the ball, running with an open shot, when a Viking player stole the ball away.

The Lions squandered another opportunity to score with about 20 minutes left. Tom Agesen brought the ball along side of the goal, trying for a shot. New knocked it out of the goal area. Gil recaptured the rebound but New made yet another stop.

"We just couldn't put it away," Sparks said. "The rebound came up, the shot was high and the keeper got his hands on it. We've got to keep the ball low, we're just not doing it."

For most of the second half, the Lions played without their three top scorers. After leading scorer Skorpen was kneed in the thigh in Friday night's game, he only played for part of both halves in the game. Near the beginning of the second half, Kelly, the second leading scorer, was forced to leave the game because of an injury. Starting defender Trevor Scanlon and forward Steve Frantz also were sidelined, still recovering from injuries.

Aggressive play dominated the end of the game. With 8:21 left, forward Steve Thomas was fouled. Penn State attempted yet another shot when the foul kick rebounded off of a player, but sailed off to the left side of the cage.

"You get a little more intensity towards the end of the game," Gorman said. "We sacrificed one defender and pushed people up in the hope that we may put an extra player in the penalty box."

"Games are won and lost over 90 minutes. I thought the first half we played a little dead."

Despite letting Cleveland State's one goal slip by, the Lions' defense held back the Vikings during most of the game from closing in on the goal. With freshman Imm back in the starting goalie position, he held off three of the Vikings' shots.

"I think we played excellent. (Defender) Eric Friberg won almost every head ball. We're just unlucky."

Penn State had three corner kicks, to Cleveland State's none. The Vikings' goalie, New, made eight saves. Cleveland State's Dan Heisterkamp received the only yellow card of the game.