Soccer Gains on First Place with Draw at Akron

AKRON, Ohio -- The Ball State soccer team played Akron to a scoreless draw Sunday, adding a point to its total in the Mid-American Conference standings.

The Cardinals gained ground on first-place Kent State, who suffered a home loss to Bowling Green. BSU will enter the final game of the regular season trailing the Golden Flashes by a single point as they chase a third straight regular season championship.

Ball State (9-6-3, 7-1-2 MAC) racked up 20 shots Sunday and placed seven of them on goal but could not get one past Akron keeper Amani Jiu.

"We just couldn't score; it was just one of those games," Ball State coach Craig Roberts said. "We needed to score in the run of play, and we didn't do that. It's something we'll need to be better at in our next game."

On the other end of the field, Ball State keeper Alyssa Heintschel made several critical saves to keep the Zips (2-14-3, 1-7-2 MAC) off the board. Twice she stymied Akron attackers in one-on-one situations by coming off her line and sliding to deflect shots away.

Junior defender Evie Stepaniak made another crucial play in the second half when she found herself alone in the 6-yard box and headed away an Akron shot that was headed for the corner of the net.

Offensively, Ball State generated seven shots in each half and three in each overtime period. Jiu made a nice play to save one of the Cardinals' best chances from Sam Kambol in the second half, and Lucy Walton saw a near goal deflect off the crossbar in overtime.

"I felt we made some basic errors in the way we were playing and in our decision making that reduced our chances to score," Roberts said. "Credit to Akron, they battled well. But we needed to be better at finishing our chances."

Ball State will close out the regular season Thursday with its third straight road game. The Cardinals will make the short trip to Miami for a 3 p.m. kickoff.

If BSU finishes ahead of or tied with Kent State in the standings after Thursday's games, the Cardinals will be the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament. Otherwise, they will be the No. 2 seed.

Either way, Ball State will host a quarterfinal game Sunday, Oct. 29 at the Briner Sports Complex.

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Team Stats

Lauren Roll

Amanda Shaw

STEPANIAK Evie

Sam Kambol

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Heintschel

Sam Kambol

Lucy Walton

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Heintschel

Sam Kambol

Lucy Walton