Ball State University
Hawaii
Soccer Team Ties Hawai'i in First Game of Weekend
September 08, 2012 | Soccer
HONOULU -- The Ball State soccer team played a talented Hawai'i squad to a 1-1 draw Friday on the opening night of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Soccer Classic at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
A goal in the 80th minute from Cardinals sophomore forward Nicole Pembleton tied the game, which remained all square through two overtime periods. In total, Ball State battled Hawai'i on its home turf for 110 minutes -- not bad for a Cardinals team that left Muncie at 3 a.m. Thursday and spent nearly an entire day traveling to Honolulu.
"We didn't show any signs of being tired from that long trip," Ball State coach Craig Roberts said. "We were strong in character and we persevered. It was a hard-fought battle. It would have been nice to get the win, but Hawai'i is a very good team that presented a great challenge, and we matched them in every area."
The Cardinals (3-2-1) will remain on the island to face Detroit in the second game of this weekend's round-robin tournament Saturday. Again, that match is scheduled for 7 p.m. local time in Honolulu, which is 1 a.m. Sunday in the Eastern time zone.
In Friday's contest, Ball State faced a tough task against a Hawai'i team (4-1-2) that extended its home unbeaten streak to 10 games (seven wins, three ties). But the Cardinals edged the Rainbow Wahine in shots, 12-11, and held a team that had scored 15 times over its previous five games to just one goal.
It was another strong defensive performance from a Ball State group that has allowed only four goals in its past five contests. Roberts cited key performances from his veteran backline along with Sarah Orisich in the midfield and freshman forward Kalynn Flanagan in helping Ball State control play throughout portions of the game.
"I felt we really developed and matured from this challenge against Hawai'i, who is a well-organized team," Roberts said. "I was very pleased with the performance tonight. I thought we controlled the first half and did extremely well. We were very unfortunate to concede a goal, but we battled away."
The Hawai'i goal came in the 28th minute off the foot of Krystal Pascua, who placed the ball into the top left corner of the net from just outside the 18-yard box. But that was the only scoring until late in the second half.
With the Cardinals in search of the equalizer, Pembleton came through with her second goal of the season when she gathered a deflected ball from Hawai'i keeper Kanani Taaca and drilled it into the bottom left corner of the net from about 20 yards out.
It was the second critical goal this season from Pembleton, who scored the game-winner in the second overtime two weeks ago against Xavier.
Pembleton's shot was the only one to get past Taaca, who faced pressure from the Ball State attack for much of the night but came through with seven saves. Aubrey Buehler made three saves on the other end for the Cardinals to help secure the draw.
Ball State's Maimee Morris fired a team-high four shots on the night, matching Karli Look of Hawai'i for the most in the game.
