Ball State University Athletics
Field Hockey Hosts Missouri State and Michigan State
October 10, 2014 | Field Hockey
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State field hockey team (3-7, 0-1 MAC) will continue Mid-American Conference play this weekend against Missouri State (3-10, 0-2 MAC) Saturday at noon followed by non-conference Michigan State (7-4) Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Briner Sports Complex.
Ball State is coming off of an 8-0 road loss to No. 7 Iowa (8-2). The match was the Cardinals third Big Ten Conference opponent of the season. Sophomore goalkeeper Jordan Dues (Fallbrook, Calif./Fallbrook) made her season debut in goal with five saves and a 0.714 save percentage after junior Shelby Henley (Novi, Mich./Novi) recorded two in the first half.
The Cardinals are ranked second in the MAC in saves (72) and saves per game (7.20) as well as ranked third in assists per game (1.30). Henley is ranked second in saves (65), saves per game (7.71) and save percentage (.684). Henley is also ranked seventh nationally with her 7.71 saves per game average.
Ball State has played a highly competitive schedule ahead of this weekend's MAC play. The Cardinals' last win came on Sept. 6, 2-1 over Colgate, and they have since lost to No. 11 Syracuse, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 20 Indiana, No. 7 Iowa and Northwestern by a combined 23-3.
SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE: Missouri State currently holds a 3-10 record in the 2014 season. The Bears are first in the MAC in defensive saves (7), second in penalty corners (91) and third in shots (127) and shots per game (9.77). Megan Drew has been in net for Missouri State and has registered 43 goals against, 3.22 goals against average and a 0.587 save percentage while facing 169 shots. Holly Scherer and Charlie Redhead have each scored five goals for the Bears, closely followed by Andrea Soler Codina with four.
SERIES HISTORY: Ball State goes into Saturday's game with the 9-8 (0.529) advantage over Missouri State, though the Bears have won the last two years in a row in the meetings of the two teams. Most recently, Missouri State was last in Muncie in 2012 and went home with a 4-2 victory over the Cardinals.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE: Michigan State is 7-4 to start the season with senior Abby Barker leading the team with 11 goals. Goalkeeping duties have been split between Sierra Patton and Katie Miller for a combined 27 goals against, 2.28 goals against average while registering a 0.745 save percentage on 191 shots faced.
SERIES HISTORY: Ball State carries the 11-10-2 all-time advantage over Michigan State, though the Spartans have come out with the last two wins 8-0 in East Lansing, Mich. and 1-0 in Muncie.
Live stats will be available for both games while video broadcast will be available Sunday weather permitting at:
LIVE STATS: http://ballstatesports.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?SPID=7632
LIVE BROADCAST: http://ballstatesports.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPID=7632&db_oem_id=14200
