Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Travels To IUPUI And Illinois This Weekend
August 26, 2010 | Soccer
LIVE STATS - Sunday at Illinois
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State hits the road for the first time in 2010 this weekend as it travels to The Summit League member and instate rival IUPUI Friday evening and Big Ten foe Illinois Sunday ... The games begin a six-game road stretch for the Cardinals from Aug. 27-Sept. 18 ... Ball State is 2-0-0 on the season while IUPUI is 0-1-0 and Illinois is 2-0-0.
Cardinals In Road Openers . . .
Ball State is in its 12th year as a program and owns a 7-4 mark in road openers in program history ... The Cardinals have dropped the past two road openers with losses at Valparaiso (2008) and most recently Miami (2009) ... Ball State last claimed a victory in a road opener in 2007 as it defeated Florida Atlantic 2-1.
Series History . . .
Friday's game marks the sixth meeting all-time between Ball State and IUPUI ... The Cardinals hold a 3-1-1 mark all-time against the Jaguars but the two teams have not met since 2005 ... That year, the Cardinals claimed a 3-1 victory over IUPUI in Indianapolis ... Ball State scored just 1:37 into the game as former Cardinal Emily Rein found the back of the net ... After IUPUI tied the game, BSU scored two straight on its way to a 27-9 advantage in shots.
Sunday's game will be the Cardinals' first ever regular season meeting against Illinois ... Ball State has faced a Big Ten foe six times prior to Sunday's game ... The Cardinals are 1-1-0 against Indiana, 1-0-0 against Northwestern and 1-2 against Purdue.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State opened the 2010 season with victories last weekend against Xavier and Indiana State ... The Cardinals are 2-0-0 to start a season for the first time since the 2005 campaign ... BSU opened the year with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Musketeers ... Sophomore Paige Stroinski and senior Jacki Eft found the back of the net in the victory with Stroinski notching the game-winning goal in the 43rd minute of play ... Ball State concluded the opening-weekend sweep with a 1-0 win over visiting Indiana State Sunday ... Freshman Alyssa Peterson scored her first career goal in the 73rd minute to seal the victory.
Stroinski leads the Cardinals with three points as she has a goal and an assists ... Three Cardinals have scored goals while five different players have handed out assists ... Ball State is out-shooting opponents by a 30-14 advantage through two games, including a 17-4 edge in the second half ... Sophomore goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler has played all 180 minutes in net and has a 0.50 goals against average with a 2-0-0 record.
Scouting The Jaguars . . .
IUPUI enters Friday's meeting with an 0-1-0 record on the year as the Jaguars opened the season with a 2-0 loss at Eastern Illinois ... The Jaguars were out-shot by a 12-8 margin at EIU as the Panthers scored in the third and 63rd minute of play ... IUPUI also played one exhibition contest and dropped a 5-1 decision to Illinois State.
Leading the charge for the Jaguars is Megan Hock who led all IUPUI players in scoring last fall with 30 points ... Hock scored a team-high 12 goals while also handing out six assists ... Also returning for IUPUI is Alicia Brock who scored 20 points on the strength of eight goals and four assists ... In goal, Giselle Guzman made her first career appearance for IUPUI in the season opener and allowed two goals while posting one save.
Scouting the Fighting Illini . . .
Illinois enters the weekend with a 2-0-0 record on the year as it has defeated Loyola Chicago and Wright State ... The Fighting Illini most recently notched a 3-1 victory over Wright State Tuesday afternoon in their home opener ... Illinois is out-shooting opponents by a 53-11 margin this season and holds a 12-0 edge in corner kicks.
Freshman Vanessa DiBernardo leads the team with five points as she has scored two goals and handed out an assist ... Nicole Denenberg and Danielle Kot have scored the two game-winning goals so far this season ... In goal, Alexandra Kapicka and Steph Panozzo have split time with each playing a half per game.
Fresh Faces . . .
Ball State has 15 newcomers on the 2010 season with 11 freshmen and four transfers ... Joining the Cardinals as freshmen are Maggie Hamilton, Kelsey Shapiro, Kaisa Bjorn, Robyn Miley, Sarah Pawelko, Alyssa Peterson, Brittney Graham, Maimee Morris, Michelle Blok, Layne Schramm and Sammy Scaringelli ... Senior Danielle Rogers and sophomore Aubrey Buehler transferred into BSU from Tennessee-Martin after playing for head coach Craig Roberts last year ... Also, junior Amanda Willke (East Stroudsburg) and sophomore Shaniece Thorpe (West Va. Institute of Technology) have joined the program after transferring.
New Face At The Helm . . .
Head coach Craig Roberts became the fourth head coach in Ball State history last spring after serving the past four seasons as head coach at Tennessee-Martin ... Roberts opened his Ball State career with two straight wins, becoming the first coach in BSU history to accomplish the feat ... He joined former coaches Ron Rainey and Michelle Salmon with a win in their first career game as BSU head coach.
Roberts brings a 34-27-12 overall record to Muncie, including 29 wins over the past three years ... He led UTM to an Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship last fall ... Joining Roberts on the sideline this fall is assistant coach Rachel Napoli who was on his staff at UTM ... Also, Chris Westrop and Stephen Woodward have joined the staff as volunteer assistant coaches.
