Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Travels To Akron And Ohio This Weekend
September 29, 2010 | Soccer
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State continues Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it travels to Akron Friday evening and Ohio Sunday afternoon ... The Cardinals' game Friday night will be the second game of the men's/women's doubleheader and will begin at 8 p.m. ... Sunday's game will begin at 1 p.m.
Road Warriors . . .
Ball State has been one of the busiest teams in terms of travel in the Mid-American Conference this season ... The Cardinals have played seven of their first 10 games on the road so far this year and are in the midst of playing nine out of their last 10 games away from home between Aug. 27 and Oct. 3 ... Entering the weekend, BSU owns a 4-3 record on the road this season with wins at IUPUI, Southeast Missouri, Western Kentucky and Duquesne.
Last Time Out . . .
Ball State opened Mid-American Conference play last weekend with two losses as the Cardinals fell to Western Michigan (3-0) and at Northern Illinois (1-0) ... The Cardinals dropped the close contest in DeKalb in overtime as the Huskies scored the game's only goal in the 95th minute of play ... Sophomore forward Paige Stroinski tallied a team-high six shots in the loss.
Series History . . .
Friday's game marks the 10th meeting all-time between Ball State and Akron ... The Cardinals hold a 5-1-3 record all-time against the Zips, including a 2-1-1 mark in Akron ... Last season, the Cardinals dropped their first game in series history as they fell 3-0 at Lee Jackson Soccer Field ... Akron scored three second half goals as it out-shot the Cardinals 12-6 and held a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks in the second frame ... Rachel Phillip scored two goals for Akron.
Sunday's game marks the 14th meeting all-time between Ball State and Ohio ... The Cardinals trail the all-time series by a 4-8-1 margin, including a 2-5-1 mark in Athens ... Last season, Ohio claimed a 1-0 victory at home as it out-shot the Cardinals 15-5 ... Laura Dieter scored the game's lone goal in the 71st minute of play.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters the weekend with a 6-4-0 overall record and an 0-2-0 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Cardinals dropped a 3-0 decision to Western Michigan last Friday and a 1-0 loss at Northern Illinois Sunday ... Ball State has scored 13 goals in 10 games this season while allowing 14 goals against ... The Cardinals are out-shooting opponents by a 147-117 margin this year.
Redshirt sophomore Sarah Orisich leads the Cardinals with seven points (3g, 1a) on the year ... Classmate Abby Milillo is second on the team with five points (2g, 1a) while senior Missy Gordon is third in scoring with four points (2g) ... Gordon also leads the Cardinals with 28 shots while freshman Paige Stroinski is second on the team with 26 shots.
The Cardinals have used two goalkeepers this year with sophomore Aubrey Buehler leading the way playing 607:01 in goal ... Buehler owns a 1.04 goals against average and has a 5-3-0 record ... Freshman Layne Schramm has played 309:36 in goal and has a 2.03 goals against average and a 1-1-0 record.
Scouting the Zips . . .
Akron enters the weekend with a 2-7-0 overall record and an 0-2-0 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Zips opened league play last weekend with road losses at Central Michigan (3-0) and Eastern Michigan (4-1) ... Akron owns a 2-1-0 mark at home this season but have not played at home since Sept. 3 ... The Zips have scored nine goals in nine games while allowing 20 goals against.
Leigh Cullen leads Akron with eight points (3g, 2a) on the year while Katie Wise is second on the team with seven points (3g, 1a) ... Kelly Deniro leads the team with 13 shots ... In goal, Jeny Wolbert has played all but 35 minutes and has a 2.32 goals against average while making 48 saves.
Scouting the Bobcats . . .
Ohio enters the weekend with a 3-4-2 overall record and an 0-1-1 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Bobcats opened league play last weekend with a 0-0 tie at Eastern Michigan and a 3-1 loss at Central Michigan ... Ohio has only played one home game this season and posted a 1-0 victory over Marshall ... The Bobcats have scored nine goals in nine games while allowing 10 goals against.
Cathryn Rogers leads the team with five points (1g, 3a) while Rachael Goulding in the only Bobcat to score multiple goals as she has tallied two ... Eight different Ohio players have scored a goal this year ... Mattie Liston has played every second in goal for Ohio and has a 1.06 goals against average while posting 50 saves.
Coming Through In The Clutch . . .
Redshirt sophomore midfielder Sarah Orisich entered the 2010 season without a goal on her resume and she went the first five games of the year without finding the back of the net ... Orisich quickly remedied the problem as she scored goals in three straight games and all three of her goals have been game-winning varieties ... She leads the team and the Mid-American Conference with three game-winning goals ... She scored the game-clinching tallies in the 103rd minute of action at Southeast Missouri, the 34th minute at Western Kentucky and most recently the 72nd minute at Duquesne.
Quick Start . . .
Ball State has posted a 6-2-0 start under first-year head coach Craig Roberts ... The three straight season-opening victories marks the fourth time Ball State has accomplished the feat and the first time since 2004 ... BSU also opened the year with three straight wins in 2000 and 2001 ... The Cardinals' 6-2-0 record through eight games is their best mark to this point since 2005 when BSU opened the year 8-1-0 on its way to a 15-3-2 overall record.
Milillo Honored By MAC . . .
Redshirt sophomore midfielder Abby Milillo was named the Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Week Monday (Sept. 20) ... Milillo, who came into the game with four career points, scored a career-high five points as she was involved in all three Ball State goals as she scored two goals and handed out an assist on the game-winning tally ... She scored unassisted in the 24th and 71st minutes of action for her first multiple goal game of her career and the Cardinals' second multiple-goal contest of the year.
Reder Earns MAC Honor . . .
Sophomore defender Brigit Reder was named the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 6) ... Reder becomes the first Cardinal to garner weekly honors since Rachael Murphy earned the accolades October 15, 2007 ... She has been the anchor for the Ball State defense this season and has helped the Cardinals open the year with a 4-2-0 record ... Ball State has already matched last season's win total (4-13-1) and has recorded its best start through six games since the 2005 season (5-1-0) ... She has also helped BSU post two shutouts this season through six games.
On The Air With The Cardinals . . .
Head coach Craig Roberts will hold his weekly radio show Monday evenings from 6-7 p.m. on 91.3 WCRD FM and online at www.ballstatesports.com ... Roberts and selected players will talk about the program with hosts Luke Baran and Kevin Thurman ... Also, all home games will be broadcast on WCRD and online.
Quick Attack . . .
Earlier this season, the Cardinals picked up a 3-0 victory at IUPUI (Aug. 27) ... Senior midfielder Missy Gordon gave Ball State the early lead as she scored an unassisted goal just 30 seconds into the contest ... The goal is the fastest goal ever scored by Ball State to open a game surpassing the previous mark by 21 seconds ... Former Cardinal Emily Rein scored just 51 seconds into the game September 24, 2006 against Buffalo ... Gordon's goal is also the fastest goal scored so far this season in the Mid-American Conference.
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 three 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 has a 38-29-12 overall record, 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.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State returns home for its first two-game home weekend since Aug. 20-22 as the Cardinals host Miami and Bowling Green ... Sunday's game will be senior day as the Cardinals will honor Kristina Anderson, Cortney Coombs, Jacki Eft, Missy Gordon and Tina Vannatta prior to the game.
