Ball State University Athletics
Ball State Soccer Hosts Tournament Friday, Sunday
August 22, 2012 | Soccer
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State soccer team will play at home for the first time in 2012 this weekend when the Cardinals host the Ball State Tournament at the Briner Sports Complex.
The team's first action at the tournament will come Friday at 5:30 p.m. against Northern Kentucky. BSU will then play Xavier on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Western Kentucky is also in the tournament, but the Cardinals will not face the Lady Toppers.
Live stats will be available for each game of the tournament. Here is the complete schedule for the weekend:
Friday, Aug. 24
Western Kentucky vs. Xavier (3:00 p.m.)
Northern Kentucky vs. Ball State (5:30 p.m.)
Sunday, Aug. 26
Western Kentucky vs. Northern Kentucky (12:00 p.m.)
Xavier vs. Ball State (2:30 p.m.)
BSU IS FIRST-TIME TOURNEY HOST
This weekend's action marks the first time Ball State has hosted a regular-season tournament. The program, which began in 1999, has hosted Mid-American Conference Tournament games in the past, but never a regular-season tournament. The Cardinals will host the event at the Briner Sports Complex, which features a field turf playing surface and is in its second year as the home of the Cardinals soccer program.
ABOUT BALL STATE
Ball State opened its 2012 campaign last Friday with a 3-1 loss on the road at Marshall. Senior forward Shaniece Thorpe scored the BSU goal in the 70th minute on an assist from freshman Aubrey Hauenstein to cut the Marshall lead to 2-1, but the Thundering Herd scored again 10 minutes later and held on for the win.
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 returns 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.
CARDINALS BEGIN STRETCH OF FOUR IN A ROW AT HOME
Ball State's two games this weekend begin a stretch of four in a row in Muncie for the Cardinals. BSU will also be at the Briner Sports Complex next weekend to host IUPUI on Friday, Aug. 31 and IPFW on Sunday, Sept. 2.
The Cardinals will then make their longest trip of the season and the longest trip in program history when they head to the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Soccer Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii.
SCOUTING NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Northern Kentucky opened its season last Friday with a 2-0 road victory at Canisius. It was the first-ever Division I contest for the Norse, which moved up this season after a highly successful 15-year run at the Division II level that included four trips to the national semifinals.
Martha Staab and Kelsey Laumann accounted for the NKU goals in the season-opening victory. Allison Ponzer is the team's leading returning scorer from last season's 16-2-2 squad, having posted 10 goals and eight assists in 2011. Senior Cassie Lingenhoel made the start in goal for Northern Kentucky's shutout win over Canisius in the opener.
ALL-TIME SERIES WITH NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Ball State and Northern Kentucky will be meeting for the first time in soccer.
SCOUTING XAVIER
Xavier has two games under its belt as it heads to Muncie. The Musketeers dropped their season opener last Friday at Mid-American Conference opponent Miami by a 3-0 score but bounced back for a 2-1 win Monday over Lipscomb in Cincinnati.
Sydnee Fields and Mariah Whitaker scored Xavier's goals in the victory over Lipscomb. Katie Markesbery has started both games between the posts for the Musketeers. Xavier went 7-8-3 a season ago, scoring just 13 goals on the year but allowing only 18. The team's core of returning starters combined to play in 137 games last year.
ALL-TIME SERIES WITH XAVIER
Ball State and Xavier will be meeting for the fourth time in the regular season. The Musketeers won last year's contest, but the Cardinals own a 2-1-1 edge in the all-time series. Here is a closer look at the previous four contests:
2003: Ball State 0, Xavier 0 (2OT) in Cincinnati
2006: Ball State 3, Xavier 2 (OT) in Muncie
2009: Ball State 2, Xavier 1 in Muncie
2011: Xavier 1, Ball State 0 in Cincinnati
Ball State and Xavier also met in an exhibition contest before the 2009 season with the Cardinals posting a 2-1 win in Cincinnati.
BSU PRESEASON HONORS
College Sports Madness named its Preseason All-Mid-American Conference teams recently, 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.
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.
