Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Hosts Lipscomb Friday At 4 PM
September 16, 2009 | Soccer
What's On Tap . . .
The Cardinals close out the 2009 non-conference season Friday afternoon with their second straight home game as BSU hosts Lipscomb at the BSU Soccer Field ... Ball State and Lipscomb will be meeting for the first time in program history Friday ... The contest will be broadcast by 91.3 WCRD FM and online at www.ballstatesports.com.
Home Sweet Home . . .
Ball State has benefited from some home field advantage at the BSU Soccer Field as it owns a 58-26-11 (.668) record in program history ... The Cardinals have posted a .500 or better record at home in nine out of their 10 seasons, including a 6-1-1 mark last fall ... Over the past five seasons, the Cardinals have a .755 winning percentage at home as they are 31-7-9 during that span.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters Friday's game with a 1-5-0 record on the season after picking up a 3-2 victory Sunday afternoon over SIU-Edwardsville in its home opener ... The victory Sunday snapped the Cardinals' five-game skid, with all five losses coming on the road ... Ball State's offense broke open for three goals against SIUE, including a pair of goals in the first 21 minutes, as three different players found the back of the net.
Freshmen forward Paige Stroinski and Maggie Brown scored the Cardinals' first two goals of the contest, both notching their first career collegiate goals ... Senior midfielder Megan Ridley scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 66th minute off of a free kick ... Freshman goalkeeper Nicole Wood posted her first career victory as she recorded three saves against the Cougars.
On the season, Ridley leads the team in scoring with three goals as she is the only Cardinal to record multiple goals this year ... Junior forward Jacki Eft is second in scoring with three points as she has handed out a team-high three assists, including a helper on Ridley's game-winning goal Sunday.
Scouting The Lady Bison . . .
Lipscomb enters Friday's game with a 2-4-0 overall record and has dropped three straight games ... The Lady Bison have picked up wins over Austin Peay and Troy while dropping games against Tennessee-Martin, Chattanooga, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Central Arkansas ... Lipscomb has been out-scored by an 8-3 margin this season as only three players have found the back of the net ... Kate Spellman leads the team with three points on the strength of a goal and an assists ... In goal, the Lady Bison have used two goalkeepers equally, as Erin Zerio and Ally Marler have each played 270 minutes ... In all six games this season, Zerio has played the first half while Marler has played the second half ... They have combined for a 1.33 goals against average on the year.
Off The Opening Kick . . .
The Cardinals had their best start of the season Sunday afternoon against SIU-Edwardsville as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 21 minutes ... Freshman forward Paige Stroinski gave the Cardinals the early lead as she converted a Missy Gordon pass just 1:49 into the game for her first career goal ... The goal is the Cardinals' fastest scored to open a game since September 24, 2006 when former Cardinal Emily Rein scored 51 seconds into the game against Buffalo.
Freshman Scorers . . .
Freshmen forward Paige Stroinski and Maggie Brown each recorded their first career collegiate goals Sunday against SIU-Edwardsville ... The two freshmen are the first Ball State rookies to score their first career goals in the same game since August 26, 2005 ... In that game, former Cardinals Emily Rein and Annie Aiello scored their first career goals in Ball State's 3-0 victory against Indiana State ... In fact, Sunday's game marked the first time Ball State has had two freshmen score in the same game since 2005.
Moving Up The Charts . . .
Senior midfielder Megan Ridley leads the team in scoring this season with three goals ... Ridley, a First Team All-Mid-American Conference selection last season, has tallied nine goals in her career ... She moved into sole possession of 10th all-time in BSU scoring history with her nine goals, moving past Vandi Ogden, Katelyn Alexander and Julie Pigozzo ... She is one goal out of eight place and two out of seventh ... Dee Nocero holds the all-time record with 30 career goals between 2001-04.
Team Tri-Captains . . .
Head coach Michael Lovett named three Cardinals as 2009 team captains in senior midfielder Megan Ridley, junior midfielder Cortney Coombs and redshirt sophomore Tina Vannatta ... The three captains combined to play in 58 games last season for Ball State.
Lovett Enters Second Season . . .
Head coach Michael Lovett enters his second season at the helm of the Cardinals ... Lovett, the third head coach in BSU Soccer history, posted a 9-10-1 record last season as the Cardinals finished seventh in the Mid-American Conference ... Under Lovett's tutelage, the Cardinals finished second in the MAC in shots per game at 15.44 and second in corner kicks at 137 ... Ball State also continued its strong play on defense as he was third in the conference in goals allowed as BSU limited opponents to just 19 goals in 20 games.
Transferring In . . .
Junior forward Missy Gordon joins the Cardinals this season after transferring from Marshall University ... Gordon was a two-year letterwinner for the Thundering Herd ... She finished third in scoring last season with 11 points as she tallied three goals and five assists ... The Carmel native played club soccer with junior forward Jacki Eft in high school.
Fresh Faces In The Crowd . . .
The Cardinals welcome in nine true freshmen to the team this season, marking one of the largest recruiting classes in recent history ... Joining the team this fall are defender Skylar Chew, defender Amanda Dreyfus, goalkeeper Nicole Wood, defender Brigit Reder, midfielder Maggie Brown, defender Coco Cammon, forward Lindsey Dorroh, midfielder Alyssa Ables and forward Paige Stroinski.
The freshmen class will help to replace last season's seven-member senior class.
Road Warriors . . .
Ball State opened the 2009 season with five straight road games for the first time in program history ... The Cardinals have opened with four straight road games on five different occasions, including last season ... Ball State will play just six of its 18 games at home this season ... The Cardinals are in the road portion of the unbalanced Mid-American Conference schedule this season with only four home MAC contests compared to seven road league games.
Did You Know? . . .
The Cardinals have qualified for the Mid-American Conference Tournament eight times in their 10-year history, with all eight appearances coming from 2001-2008.
Cardinals Picksed 10th . . .
The Ball State soccer team was tabbed to finish 10th in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll by the league head coaches ... The Cardinals, who finished seventh in the MAC last season, returns 13 letterwinners from last season and adds 11 newcomers ... Three-time defending MAC Tournament champion Toledo was picked to win the regular season and the Tournament ... Central Michigan was picked to finish second, Bowling Green third, Eastern Michigan fourth, Miami fifth, Kent State sixth, Northern Illinois seventh, Ohio eighth, Western Michigan ninth, Akron 11th and Buffalo 12th.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State opens Mid-American Conference play next weekend when it hits the road for games at Kent State and Buffalo ... The Cardinals will open the home portion of the MAC schedule the weekend of Oct. 2-4 when they host Bowling Green and Toledo.
