Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Hosts BG for TV Game, CMU for Senior Day
October 18, 2012 | Soccer
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State soccer team closes the home portion of its regular-season schedule this weekend with Mid-American Conference contests against Bowling Green and Central Michigan.
Friday's 4 p.m. game with Bowling Green will be televised as a production of Ball State Sports Link and will air throughout the state on Comcast Indiana 81. The broadcast will also be streamed live for free on ballstatesports.com. It will be the first televised soccer game from Briner Sports Complex, and fans are encouraged to wear red.
Sunday's 1 p.m. matchup with MAC West-leading Central Michigan will serve as Senior Day, as the Cardinals honor 10 players who will be playing their final regular-season home game. The contest will air live on Sports Link Radio 91.3 FM WCRD with the broadcast also streamed through ballstatesports.com.
ABOUT BALL STATE
Ball State (7-5-4) sits in third place in the MAC West at 4-2-2 in league play with three regular-season games remaining. The Cardinals split two road contests last weekend, dropping a 2-1 overtime decision at Toledo and winning by a 1-0 score at Northern Illinois.
Senior midfielder Sarah Orisich scored Ball State's goal in the win over the Huskies, while sophomore forward Nicole Pembleton accounted for the Cardinals' goal in the loss at Toledo. Pembleton and fellow sophomore forward Jasmine Moses lead the team in goals with four and three, respectively, but a total of 11 Cardinals have found the back of the net at least once this season.
Defensively, Ball State has shut out three of its past four opponents. For the season, the Cardinals are allowing an average only 9.3 shots and 4.4 shots on goal per game. Senior goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler owns a 1.01 goals against average and has played all but 33 minutes between the posts this season.
SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN
Bowling Green (1-14-1) enters Friday's contest with record of 0-7-1 in MAC play. The Falcons suffered a pair of home losses last weekend, falling 2-1 to Buffalo and 2-0 to Akron.
Sophomore forward Sidney Huth leads Bowling Green with three goals on the season, while Madeline Wideman and Jessica Jarvis have scored twice each. That trio has accounted for seven of the Falcons' eight goals on the season. Freshman Jenna Underwood has seen the majority of time in goal for Bowling Green and has started every MAC game. She owns a 1.71 goals against average and a .702 save percentage.
Ball State holds an 8-3-3 advantage over Bowling Green in the all-time series between the teams, including a 4-1-3 lead in games played in Muncie. The Cardinals shut out the Falcons 2-0 on the road last season courtesy of goals from Victoria Jacobs and Maggie Brown.
SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan (11-4-1) enters the weekend atop the MAC West standings with a 7-1-0 mark in conference play. The Chippewas will host Miami University, the top team in the overall MAC standings, on Friday before making the trip down to Muncie for Sunday's contest.
Junior forward Jennifer Gassman leads the Chippewas offensively with four goals on the season, while freshman forward Danielle Rotheram has scored three times. Four other Central Michigan players have scored two goals each. CMU leads the conference in shots with 17.25 per game.
Defensively, Central Michigan tops the MAC with eight shutouts, and senior goalkeeper Stefanie Turner leads the league individually with seven. Turner ranks second in the conference with a 0.81 goals against average. She also owns a .796 save percentage.
Ball State trails by a 2-12-1 margin in the all-time series with Central Michigan. The Chippewas picked up a 1-0 win over the Cardinals last season in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
SHUTTING OUT THE OPPOSITION
Ball State goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler and the Cardinals' defensive unit have shut out three of their past four opponents.
The Cardinals dealt Eastern Michigan a 1-0 loss for the Eagles' first conference defeat (Oct. 5) and then played Western Michigan to a scoreless draw (Oct. 7). After a 2-1 overtime loss at Toledo last Friday, Ball State was back in the shutout column last Sunday with a 1-0 win at Northern Illinois.
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 246-149. The Cardinals have logged more shots than their opponent in 13 of their 16 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.
THREE DEFENSIVE AWARDS FOR CARDINALS
Ball State has had three players named the MAC Defensive Player of the week this season in goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler and defenders Pavla Benyrova and Skylar Chew.
Buehler earned her honor Oct. 8 after recording back-to-back shutouts in conference games against Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.
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.
Chew received the honor Aug. 28. She scored one goal and assisted on another in the Ball State Tournament 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.
TOP-NOTCH DEFENSE
After surrendering three goals in its season opener at Marshall, Ball State has allowed just 14 goals over its past 15 games. That stretch includes shutouts of IPFW (Sept. 2), Eastern Michigan (Oct. 5), Western Michigan (Oct. 7) and Northern Illinois (Oct. 14), along with eight games in which the Cardinals have held their opponent to exactly one goal.
Butler, Kent State and Toledo are the only teams since the season opener to score more than one goal on Ball State.
PEMBLETON COMING UP CLUTCH
Sophomore forward Nicole Pembleton has played a part in five Ball State goals this season, and four of them have helped to decide the outcomes of games:
Aug. 26 vs. Xavier -- Scored game-winning goal in second overtime of 2-1 victory
Sept. 2 vs. IPFW -- Assisted on game-winning goal in 1-0 victory
Sept. 7 at Hawai'i -- Scored game-tying goal in 1-1 draw
Sept. 30 at Ohio -- Scored game-tying goal in 1-1 draw
Pembleton also scored a goal last Friday in Ball State's 2-1 overtime loss at Toledo. She leads the Cardinals with four goals and nine points this season.
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 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 later against Akron from 30 yards out in the 82nd minute. Blok assisted on Starck's goal.
Sophomore Nicole Pembleton, junior Maimee Morris and freshman Aubrey Hauenstein have also scored their first collegiate goals this season for Ball State.
REDER, CHEW HAVE WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE
Senior defenders Brigit Reder and Skylar Chew have been stalwarts on the Ball State back line since arriving on campus four years ago. Both players rank among the school's all-time leaders in career minutes played with Reder logging 6,326 minutes and Chew 5,788. Reder has started 71 contests as a Cardinal, while Chew has started 68.
This season, Chew has played every minute in the field for the Cardinals, while Reder has played all but 11 minutes. Fellow defender Pavla Benyrova has played all but 20 minutes.
CAREER SHUTOUTS FOR BUEHLER
Senior goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler's shutout last Sunday at Northern Illinois was the 16th of her career. She owns 11 shutouts as a Cardinal, including four this season, after transferring to Ball State following her freshman year at UT Martin.
Buehler has started 45 games as a Cardinal, the third-most in school history. She ranks fourth in school annals in wins (20), shutouts (11), saves (147) and goals against average (1.23).
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).
BSU PRESEASON HONORS
College Sports Madness named its Preseason All-Mid-American Conference teams in August, and Ball State was well-represented with three selections. Senior defender Brigit Reder was selected to the 13-member first team, while sophomore forward Jasmine Moses was recognized on the 13-member second team. Additionally, freshman midfielder/defender Kaila Mack was picked as the league's preseason Freshman of the Year.
MORE ON THE CARDINALS
BSU is coming off a 9-9-3 campaign last year as the Cardinals improved for the second consecutive season under head coach Craig Roberts. This year's team is much more experienced with the return of 21 letterwinners and eight starters from a year ago.
Leading scorer Brigit Reder returned for her senior year following an all-conference junior season in which she totaled 16 points and led all Mid-American Conference defenders with seven goals. Sophomore forward Jasmine Moses also scored seven goals for the Cardinals last season in her rookie campaign, but Reder and Moses are just two of a total of 14 returning BSU players who tallied points last year.
Ball State also features a pair of experienced goalkeepers in senior Aubrey Buehler and junior Layne Schramm. Buehler started 19 games in 2011 and posted a 1.30 goals against average.
THIRD SEASON FOR ROBERTS
The Cardinals are in their third season under the direction of head coach Craig Roberts. The program won just four games a year prior to Roberts' arrival but managed seven wins in his first season in 2010 and then improved to 9-9-3 in 2011.
Last year's team won seven games in an eight-game stretch in the middle of the season despite fielding a roster with a combined 18 freshmen and sophomores.
BSU PICKED FOURTH IN MAC WEST
Ball State was chosen fourth in the Mid-American Conference West Division in the annual preseason poll of the league's head coaches. The Cardinals will look to improve on that prediction like they did a year ago when they were picked sixth in the preseason poll but finished fourth with a league record of 4-5-2.
