The Cleveland State University women’s soccer team held onto its 3-1 lead to beat the Youngstown State Penguins 3-2 on Thursday at the Krenzler Bubble.

Elena Gutlove led the Vikings with a goal and an assist, marking her third multi-goal match. Freshman Kathryn Ramicone scored her first career goal at the collegiate level while Christina Tickett found the back of the net for the second consecutive game.

Goalkeeper Stevie Holbrook picked up her third win of the season, saving one of two shots before exiting in the 55th minute with an injury. 

The match started with a flurry of shots from Cleveland State with Trickett breaking through the Youngstown State defense to put CSU on the scoreboard. The assist came from Rylee Bussen, the first of her collegiate career.

It took the Penguins less than three minutes to equalize as Abriana Rondin snuck through the Viking defense to put a shot in behind Holbrook. Just 47 seconds later, Maddie Young nearly put Cleveland State back ahead, firing a volley that went over the net.

CSU's Gutlove got a foot to a loose ball and finished after a blocked attempt by Young to put the Vikings back in the lead. That goal tied Gutlove with Young to lead the Vikings in goals for the season (three).

Katie Sidloski almost gave Cleveland State a two-goal lead going into halftime when she found the back of the net on a rebound. However, the ball crossed the line after the clock expired.

After the break, Ramicone put the Vikings ahead 3-1 in the 54th minute.  She almost made it 4-1 in the 70th minute when her shot deflected off the crossbar.

With less than four minutes left to play the Penguins cut the Vikings lead to one when the Vikings defense deflected in Regan LaVigna's shot at goal. Cleveland State held Youngstown State to zero shot attempts over the last minutes of the game.

Cleveland State outshot Youngstown State 25-12, with Trickett and Ramicone combining for 13. All four of Gutlove’s shots were on target.

The Vikings next match comes when they host the defending Horizon League champion Milwaukee Panthers on Wednesday, March 10 at 12:30 p.m.