Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Opens MAC Play On The Road This Weekend
September 25, 2009 | Soccer
LIVE STATS (Friday at Kent State ONLY)
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State opens Mid-American Conference action this weekend when it hits the road for the longest league trip of the season ... The Cardinals will travel to Kent State Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. before heading to Buffalo Sunday afternoon at noon ... Live stats will be available for Friday's game courtesy of Kent State with a link available at www.ballstatesports.com.
Time Changes . . .
The Cardinals have a few game time changes from their original Mid-American Conference schedule ... Friday's game at Kent State is set for a 4 p.m. start while Sunday's game is set for a noon start ... Also, Ball State's road games at Central Michigan (Oct. 9) and Ohio (Oct. 16) will now start at 4 p.m.
MAC Openers . . .
This weekend marks the 11th Mid-American Conference opener in Ball State history ... The Cardinals are 6-3-1 all-time in conference openers and have posted a 6-1-1 record in their past eight MAC openers ... Ball State will be opening MAC play on the road for just the fourth time in program history (2008, 2005 & 1999).
Friday's game will mark the fourth time in program history that Ball State has opened league play against Kent State ... The Cardinals are 3-0-0 all-time against the Golden Flashes in MAC openers, including a 2-0 victory on the road in 2005 ... Ball State also claimed MAC-opening wins against KSU in 2006 (3-1 in Muncie) and 2002 (1-0 in Muncie).
Series History . . .
Friday's game marks the 12th meeting all-time between Ball State and Kent State ... The Cardinals hold a 6-3-2 record all-time against the Golden Flashes, including a 4-0-2 mark over the past five seasons ... BSU is just 2-3-0 all-time against Kent State on the road, but it won the last meeting 2-1 in 2007 ... Last year, the Cardinals claimed a 3-0 shutout victory in Muncie as they scored two goals in the first 16 minutes of action ... Ball State out-shot the Golden Flashes by a 19-8 margin, including an 8-1 edge in the first half.
Sunday's game marks the 11th meeting all-time between Ball State and Buffalo ... The all-time series is tied at 5-5-0 ... The Cardinals have not found much success in the Empire State as they are 1-4-0 all-time at Buffalo with their only win coming with a 2-1 overtime victory in 2003 ... Ball State won last year's meeting between the two teams in Muncie, 4-1 ... The Cardinals scored three second half goals, including two in the first 2:31 of the frame, to take home the victory ... Megan Ridley, Tina Vannatta and Meg Mellott all scored for the Cardinals in the second half ... BSU out-shot Buffalo by a 17-5 margin and held a 10-2 edge in the decisive second half.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters Mid-American Conference play with a 2-5-0 record but have won two straight games to close out non-conference action ... The Cardinals have posted back-to-back victories over SIU-Edwardsville and Lipscomb by a combined 7-2 score ... Most recently, Ball State posted its first shutout of the season with a 4-0 victory over Lipscomb ... The Cardinals controlled play the entire game as they held a 23-2 advantage in shots, including a 16-1 edge in their three-goal second half ... Senior midfielder Patti Hoeg, junior defender Kristina Anderson, redshirt sophomore defender Tina Vannatta and freshman forward Paige Stroinski each found the back of the net in the victory ... The four goals scored are the most this season and the most for the Cardinals since they scored four goals last season against Buffalo.
Senior midfielder Megan Ridley leads the team in scoring with three goals while Stroinski is second with two goals ... Freshman goalkeeper Nicole Wood picked up her second win of the season and lowered her goals against average to 2.84.
Scouting The Golden Flashes . . .
Kent State enters the weekend with a 4-3-0 record on the year and is coming off of a 2-0 loss to Michigan State ... The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Golden Flashes ... Kent State has tallied wins against Eastern Kentucky, Youngstown State, Tulsa and Cal State Northridge.
Kent State has both scored and allowed seven goals this season while out-shooting its opponents by a 100-96 margin ... Kellyn Flanagan and Catharine Marosszeky lead the Golden Flashes in scoring with two goals apiece ... In goal, Kelly Sherwood has played every minute and owns a 0.95 goals against average while posting two shutouts.
Scouting The Bulls . . .
Buffalo enters the weekend with a 1-7-0 overall record and will face Miami Friday night ... The Bulls have dropped two straight games heading into conference play with back-to-back losses to Binghamton and Canisius ... Buffalo has been out-scored 14-4 this season and is being out-shot by a 127-67 margin.
Four different players have scored goals this season for the Bulls with Katie Kerr recording the only game-winning goal for UB ... In goal, Amy Coron returns and has played all but one game and has a 1.54 goals against average.
Home Sweet Home . . .
Ball State has benefited from some home field advantage at the BSU Soccer Field as it owns a 59-26-11 (.672) 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.
What A Crowd . . .
Ball State had a program-record 808 fans come out to enjoy the Cardinals' 4-0 victory over Lipscomb Friday ... The 808 fans sets a new record for attendance at the BSU Soccer Field, surpassing the previous mark of 759 fans September 30, 2007 against Eastern Michigan ... Ball State was celebrating Youth Soccer Month in the Muncie community.
Off The Opening Kick . . .
The Cardinals had their best start of the season against SIU-Edwardsville as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 21 minutes ... Freshman 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 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, the 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.
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.
Looking Ahead . . .
The Cardinals open the home portion of the 2009 Mid-American Conference schedule next weekend when they host Bowling Green and Toledo.
