Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Hosts #19 Illinois Today At 4 P.M.
August 25, 2011 | Soccer
What's On Tap . . .
The Cardinals open the home portion of the 2011 regular season Friday afternoon as they host Big Ten power and No. 19 Illinois ... Friday's game will be the first ever regular season contest held at the Cardinals' new home, the Briner Sports Complex.
The Briner Sports Complex will include a new soccer facility and an entryway for the soccer, field hockey and track facilities ... The $1.7 million project will be known as the Briner Sports Complex to recognize the outstanding contribution of Ken and Peggy Briner, who are longtime loyal fans and contributors to Ball State athletics.
Series History . . .
Friday's game will mark the second meeting all-time between Ball State and Illinois as the two teams met last season in Champaign ... The Cardinals suffered a 3-0 loss to the Illini last season as they were out-shot 20-6 ... Friday's game will mark just the second visit all-time by a Big Ten foe to Muncie and the first since Purdue came to town Nov. 1, 2003 ... Ball State posted a 1-0 victory over the then 19th-ranked Boilermakers at the Ball State Soccer Field.
Last Weekend At WKU Tournament . . .
Ball State posted a second place finish in the Western Kentucky Tournament during the season-opening weekend with a victory over Murray State before falling to host and tournament champion WKU ... The Cardinals placed three juniors on the All-Tournament team midfielder Maggie Brown and defenders Brigit Reder and Skylar Chew.
Brown led the Cardinals offensively as she scored two of their four goals on the weekend, finding the back of the net in each game ... Reder and Chew anchored the Cardinals' back line that opened the season posting a 3-0 shutout of the Racers ... Both defenders also scored a goal on the weekend against Murray State.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters Friday's game with a 1-1-0 record after picking up a 3-0 win over Murray State before falling 3-1 against Western Kentucky ... The Cardinals out-shot their opponents by a 25-17 margin on the weekend, including a 12-4 edge in the second half ... Three different players found the back of the net while three players handed out assists.
Junior midfielder Maggie Brown led the way with two goals while classmate Amanda Dreyfus posted a team-high two assists ... Sophomore goalkeeper Layne Schramm picked up the shutout victory over Murray State and has not allowed a goal in 137:49 minutes this season.
Scouting The Illini . . .
Illinois opened the season with back-to-back 5-1 victories at home against Gonzaga and Toledo ... The Illini entered the year ranked No. 24, but moved up five spots to No. 19 this week ... Illinois out-shot its opponents by a 56-12 margin, including a dominating 34-7 edge in the first half ... The Illini also owned a 22-3 advantage on corner kicks through two games.
Vanessa DiBernardo led the Illini with four goals in two games as she earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors ... DiBernardo, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, also picked up some national weekly honors for her efforts ... Marissa Mykines added two goals and two assists while Julie Ewing tallied two assists.
In goal, Steph Panozzo has played all 180 minutes and has allowed just two goals but has only had to make one save.
Fresh Faces . . .
The Cardinals and second-year head coach Craig Roberts welcome in an 11-member freshman class this season ... Ball State has brought in four forwards, four midfielders and three defenders this season.
The Cardinals' freshmen class consists of Hannah Chadick, Lindsay Kempf, Nicole Pembleton, Cailey Starck, Ellie Chadick, Victoria Jacobs, Maggie Cox, Alexis Pearlstein, Becca Sutton, Pavla Benyrova and Jasmine Moses.
New Staff Addition . . .
Second-year head coach Craig Roberts has brought in assistant coach Ileana Roberts for the 2011 season ... Moschos brings 10 years of coaching experience to the Cardinals and spent the past four years as the top assistant at Missouri Valley Conference power Creighton.
Moschos, who was a world-class goalkeeper for the Greek National Team from 2002-04, helped Creighton to a 15-4-2 record last fall and the NCAA Tournament as the Bluejays won the MVC Tournament ... Under her guidance, Creighton posted 35 shutouts over the past four year ... Last season, the Bluejays finished 33rd in NCAA Division I with 10 shutouts and were 49th in the country with a 0.83 goals against average.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State hits the road for four straight and six of its next seven games beginning with a pair of regional road games next weekend ... The Cardinals travel to Indiana State next Friday night and Xavier Sunday afternoon.
