Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Travels to MAC West Foes Toledo, NIU
October 11, 2012 | Soccer
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State soccer team heads back out on the road this weekend to face two fellow Mid-American Conference West Division opponents.
The Cardinals will visit Toledo for a 4 p.m. contest Friday and then travel to Northern Illinois for a Sunday game that begins at 1 p.m. CT in DeKalb, Ill. (2 p.m. ET).
Live stats will be available for each game through the links above, while Northern Illinois will also offer live video for a fee for Sunday's game.
ABOUT BALL STATE
With just five regular-season games left, Ball State (6-4-4) enters the weekend in the thick of the MAC West race. The Cardinals own 11 points in the league standings with a conference record of 3-1-2 and barely trail Eastern Michigan's 12 points for second place in the division.
Ball State handed Eastern Michigan its first conference loss last Friday with a 1-0 victory in Muncie and then played to a scoreless draw with Western Michigan on Sunday.
Senior midfielder Maimee Morris scored the Ball State goal in the win over Eastern Michigan, becoming the 10th Cardinal to score a goal this season. Sophomore forwards Nicole Pembleton and Jasmine Moses lead the team's balanced attack with three goals each.
Senior goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler is the reigning MAC Defensive Player of the Week after helping Ball State post consecutive shutouts last week. She has played all but 33 minutes between the posts this season with a 1.02 goals against average and a .769 save percentage.
SCOUTING TOLEDO
Toledo (5-8-1) is just one spot behind Ball State in the MAC West standings with a 3-2-1 league mark. The Rockets split a pair of home games last weekend, falling 2-0 to division-leading Central Michigan and earning a 3-0 win over Bowling Green.
Junior forward Rachel MacLeod leads Toledo with eight points (three goals, two assists), while defenders Angelica Hernandez and Natalia Gaitan have scored two goals each. Sophomore Kelsey Borowitz has played the majority of time in goal for the Rockets since the start of conference play. She owns a 1.47 goals against average and a .696 save percentage.
Ball State holds an 8-5 lead in the all-time series with the Rockets. The Cardinals are 3-3 in six previous games at Toledo, where the Rockets won last year's meeting by a 2-0 score in the final game of the regular season.
SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Northern Illinois (6-5-2) is 2-2-2 in league play after splitting two home games last weekend. The Huskies defeated Bowling Green 2-1 and then took Central Michigan, the first place team in the MAC West, to double overtime before falling by the same score. NIU will host Miami University on Friday before Sunday's contest with Ball State.
Junior forward Cori Frankenberg leads Northern Illinois in both goals (four) and assists (four) for a team-high 12 points, while three other Huskies have scored two goals apiece. Junior goalkeeper Amy Carr has recorded five shutouts on the year to go along with a 0.77 goals against average and a .750 save percentage.
Ball State and Northern Illinois are even in the all-time series at 5-5-3. The Cardinals are 2-2-2 in six previous games in DeKalb, Ill. Ball State shut out the Huskies 3-0 last year in Muncie on goals by Pavla Benyrova, Sarah Orisich and Becca Sutton.
BUEHLER EARNS WEEKLY MAC DEFENSIVE AWARD
After recording back-to-back shutouts last weekend, Ball State senior goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler was selected as the MAC Defensive Player of the Week.
Buehler became the first goalkeeper in conference play and just the second all season to shut out Eastern Michigan last Friday. Sunday against Western Michigan, she played all 110 minutes of a double-overtime contest in the net. She made five saves in the contest, including four after halftime to secure a scoreless draw.
THIRD DEFENSIVE AWARD FOR CARDINALS
Aubrey Buehler's honor this week marks the third time this season a Cardinal has been named the MAC Defensive Player of the Week.
Sophomore defender Pavla Benyrova earned the award on Sept. 24. She tallied a goal and an assist in the previous weekend plus anchored a Ball State back line that surrendered just nine shots on goal over two games against Buffalo and Akron.
Senior defender Skylar Chew received the honor Aug. 28. She scored one goal and assisted on another in the Ball State Tournament (Aug. 24-26) while helping the Cardinals limit their opponents to just 10 shots on goal over two games. Chew was also named the MAC Player of the Week by College Sports Madness for her performance that weekend.
PEMBLETON COMING UP CLUTCH
Sophomore forward Nicole Pembleton has played a part in four Ball State goals this season, and all four of them have helped to decide the outcomes of games. Most recently, she scored the game-tying goal in Ball State's 1-1 draw Sept. 30 at Ohio.
Pembleton's first collegiate goal was the game-winner in the second overtime Aug. 26 against Xavier. She assisted on the game-winning goal Sept. 2 against IPFW and then scored the game-tying goal Sept. 7 at Hawai'i to help Ball State earn a 1-1 draw.
MOSES CRACKS TOP 10 AT BSU IN GOALS
Sophomore forward Jasmine Moses has scored three goals this season to move into 10th on Ball State's career goals list in just her second year.
Moses, who scored seven goals as a freshman last year, went the first six games of 2012 without a goal but then found the net three times in a span of four games.
The 2011 MAC All-Freshman Team selection scored her first goal of the season Sept. 8 against Detroit and then added goals Sept. 16 against Butler and Sept. 23 against Akron. All three of Moses' goals have come in the first 10 minutes of those games.
FIRST COLLEGIATE GOALS
The first career goals for junior midfielder Michelle Blok and sophomore midfielder Cailey Starck helped Ball State to its two wins in the opening weekend of MAC play. Blok scored the game-tying goal Sept. 21 in the eventual victory over Buffalo, and Starck scored the game-winner two days last against Akron from 30 yards out in the 82nd minute. Blok assisted on Starck's goal.
Last weekend, Maimee Morris scored her first collegiate goal to lift the Cardinals to a 1-0 victory over Eastern Michigan.
TOP-NOTCH DEFENSE
After surrendering three goals in its season opener at Marshall, Ball State has allowed just 12 goals over its past 13 games. That stretch includes shutouts of IPFW (Sept. 2), Eastern Michigan (Oct. 5) and Western Michigan (Oct. 7), along with eight games in which the Cardinals have held their opponent to exactly one goal.
Butler and Kent State are the only teams since the season opener to score more than one goal on Ball State.
OUT-SHOOTING THE OPPOSITION
Ball State has given itself more scoring opportunities than its opponents this season, out-shooting them by a combined total of 229-130. The Cardinals have logged more shots than their opponent in 12 of their 14 games, including a season-high 30 shots in the Sept. 30 contest against Ohio. The Cardinals out-shot the Bobcats 30-13 in that game for their largest margin of the season.
BUEHLER IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Senior goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler's two shutouts last weekend were the 14th and 15th of her career. She owns 10 shutouts as a Cardinal after transferring to Ball State following her freshman year at UT Martin. Buehler ranks fourth in school history in wins (19) and saves (144).
REDER ON THE ALL-TIME CHARTS
Senior defender Brigit Reder is tied for seventh on Ball State's all-time goals scored list with 11 in her career. She also ranks 14th on the Cardinals' list for career points with 25 (11 goals, three assists).
