MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State soccer team closed out its non-conference portion of the 2007 schedule on Friday afternoon with a victory as the Cardinals downed regional rival Illinois State, 1-0, at the BSU Soccer Field. The victory by the Cardinals is the program's first ever against Illinois State in six meetings.
“This was a great team win against a very good Illinois State team,” head coach Michelle Salmon said. “We played great team defense, especially in the first half, and Leibel's scored a great goal for us to give us the lead. This is a good result for us as we head into MAC (Mid-American Conference) play next weekend.”
The Cardinals (3-4-0) came out in the first half and dominated play against the Redbirds as they out-shot ISU by a 12-0 margin. The Cardinals' early pressure led to the only goal of the game in the 19th minute of play as they forced a Redbird turnover on a potential clearing attempt.
Senior defender Lindsay Martin (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) intercepted the ISU pass and found forward Sarah Schumacker (Hamilton, Ohio/Fairfield) down the left side in stride. Schumacker took one touch and lofted a cross through the box where it found an on-charging Sarah Leibel (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Ursula). Leibel volleyed the ball into the back of the net past the diving ISU goalkeeper for the 1-0 lead.
Ball State almost scored its second goal just minutes later as BSU was awarded a corner kick in the 22nd minute. Junior midfielder Katelyn Alexander (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) sent a ball into the box where freshman midfielder Cortney Coombs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain) got a head on the ball and sent it just wide of the goal.
Illinois State (4-2-0) came out in the second half and was able to match the Cardinals' offensive push as BSU only out-shot the Redbirds by an 8-7 margin in the second frame. The Cardinals had an opportunity in the 58th minute of play to take a two-goal lead as freshman Kristina Anderson (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) got in behind the defense.
Anderson went one-on-one against ISU goalkeeper Katie Grill-Donovan but Grill-Donovan was able to make a sprawling save. Junior forward Emily Rein (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) almost poked the rebound behind Grill-Donovan but the ISU defense was able to back track and thwart the effort.
Ball State came within inches of scoring in the 79th minute after back-to-back corner kicks. Senior defender Angie Heyer (Zanesville, Ind./Homestead) took the corner kick which was cleared to the top of the 18-yard box. Heyer was able to run onto the clearing attempt and rifled a shot past the ISU goalkeeper and found the cross bar to keep the scored at 1-0.
Junior goalkeeper Rachael Murphy (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville) came up with three saves in the second half to secure her first shutout of the season and eighth shutout of her career. Murphy came up with a key save off of a header in the 81st minute to preserve the victory. Grill-Donovan tallied six saves in the losing effort for the Redbirds.
The Cardinals will be off the rest of the weekend as they prepare for their defense of the Mid-American Conference championship. The Cardinals open MAC play next weekend at home as they host perennial MAC power Central Michigan on Friday afternoon. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at the BSU Soccer Field and admission is FREE.
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