Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Faces Two Instate Foes This Weekend In West Lafayette
September 02, 2009 | Soccer
LIVE STATS vs. Valparaiso (9/3)
What's On Tap . . .
The Cardinals continue their season-opening five-game road swing this weekend with a pair of games against instate rivals in West Lafayette, Ind. ... Ball State will face Valparaiso Thursday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. at the Purdue Varsity Soccer Complex ... The Cardinals will meet Purdue Monday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. in the second game of the Labor Day weekend.
Series History . . .
Thursday's game marks the fifth meeting all-time between Ball State and Valparaiso ... The two teams met last season for the first time since 2001 with Valparaiso claiming a 1-0 victory at home in the season opener for each team ... The Crusaders scored the game's only goal in the 71st minute as they held a 7-5 advantage in shots and a 6-2 edge in corner kicks ... Ball State's only victory in series history came Sept. 23, 2001 when the Cardinals downed Valparaiso 5-0 in Muncie.
Monday's game marks the third meeting all-time between the Cardinals and the Boilermakers ... Ball State is 1-1 all-time against Purdue as the two teams played a home-and-home series in 2002 and 2003 ... Purdue won the first meeting in West Lafayette with a 2-0 victory ... Ball State won the previous meeting with the then No. 19 ranked Boilermakers Oct. 27, 2003 with a 1-0 victory in Muncie ... The victory is the Cardinals' only win against a nationally ranked opponent in program history.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters the week with an 0-2-0 record on the year after dropping a pair of games in the Sunshine State ... The Cardinals fell to 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Miami (5-1) and Florida Atlantic (3-0) ... BSU has been out-scored 8-1 in the two games despite only being out-shot 35-29 ... Junior midfielder Meg Mellott has scored the Cardinals' only goal so far this season as she found the back of the net against the Hurricanes ... Junior midfielder Missy Gordon leads the team with six shots while Mellott and junior forward Jacki Eft each have five shots on the year ... In goal, senior goalkeeper Amy Cleeter has played a majority of the first two games and has a 3.96 goals against average while freshman goalkeeper Nicole Wood owns a 4.34 goals against average in just 20-plus minutes of action.
Scouting The Crusaders . . .
Valparaiso enters Thursday's game with a 1-3-0 record on the year ... The Crusaders opened the season with three straight losses to Morehead State, Michigan and Northern Illinois with all three games being one goal contests ... Valparaiso tallied its first win of the season Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 victory at IUPUI ... The Crusaders have been out-scored 5-3 on the season despite out-shooting opponents by a 45-41 margin ... Jackie Kondratko leads the team with a goal and an assists while Trisha Wladecki and Rachel Hoaglin have also recorded goals ... In goal, Mele Cabral has played every minute and owns a 1.22 goals against average with one shutout.
Scouting The Boilermakers . . .
Purdue enters the weekend with a 3-0-0 record on the season as it has claimed victories over Ohio, Butler and No. 6 Texas A&M ... The Boilermakers defeated the nationally ranked Aggies 3-2 last Friday evening in College Station and tied the NCAA record for fastest goal in a game, netting the opening goal four seconds into the contest ... Purdue has out-scored its opponents by a 10-3 margin and out-shot them by a 39-25 mark ... Jessica Okoroafo leads the team with eight points on the strength of three goals and two assists ... Three other Boilermakers have scored multiple goals so far this season ... In goal, Purdue has played three different players with Jenny Bradfisch seeing the majority of play with 225 minutes ... Bradfisch has a 1.20 goals against average this season.
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.
New Look In Goal . . .
The Cardinals will have a new look between the posts this season after the graduation of Rachael Murphy ... Murphy was a three-year starter for the Cardinals and finished her career with the program records for wins (34) and shutouts (24) ... BSU has two goalkeepers on the roster this season in senior Amy Cleeter and freshman Nicole Wood ... Cleeter has played the majority of the first two games logging 159:16 minutes in goal and has a 3.96 goals against average ... Wood saw action in 20:44 against Miami and allowed one goal.
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 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 opens 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 Picked 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 continues its five-game road swing to open the 2009 season next Friday night as it travels to regional power Dayton for a 7:30 p.m. contest ... The Cardinals open the home portion of hte 2009 season Sunday, September 13 when they host SIU-Edwardsville.
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