COLUMBUS, Ohio - Austin McAnena and Doug Verhoff both scored first-half goals to lead the Ohio State men's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Cleveland State Friday evening at a rain-soaked Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The Buckeyes are now 7-2-3 on the season, while the Vikings fall to 3-5-3 overall.

"To respond to the two bad games last week and get back on the right track is very good," head coach John Bluem said after the game. "I am very proud of the guys; it was a very good team effort in both of our wins this week. I am proud of our younger players; we went to them and they did very well. I'm very happy right now for the team."

McAnena put the Buckeyes on the board in the second minute, securing them the earliest lead of the 2009 season. Junior captain Matt Gold played the ball forward to freshman Chris Hegngi on the right side of the penalty area. Hegngi sent a centering pass to McAnena and the rookie from Laguna Niguel, Calif., chipped the ball over the Viking keeper and into the far right side of the net.

Midway through the 19th minute, Ohio State stretched its lead to two with Doug Verhoff's team-leading fourth goal of the year. The senior captain launched a free kick from 25 yards out that bent around the wall and into the lower right side for the 2-0 lead at 18:22.

Ohio State out-shot the Vikings 12-8 on the day and held a 4-2 margin on corner kicks. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Matt Lampson tied a career high for the second-consecutive game with five saves. His counterparts, Nick Harpel and Brad Stuver for Cleveland State, split time evenly between the pipes and tallied one and four saves, respectively.

A total of seven yellow cards were handed out, four to Cleveland State and three to Ohio State. The teams combined for 30 fouls as the wet field conditions proved to frustrate both sides.

"Both teams were frustrated," Bluem said of the fouls. "To go down early like [Cleveland State] did, that is a frustrating thing. It I just one of those things. Field conditions were a little sloppy and the teams are going to play hard."

The Buckeyes return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday against UIC in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The match is the second of four-consecutive home games for Ohio State. Admission for all home regular-season matches is free.