Ball State University Athletics
Soccer Heads South to Open 2015 Season
August 20, 2015 | Soccer
Game 1
Ball State at Jacksonville State
Friday, Aug. 21 (8 p.m.)
Jacksonville, Ala. (JSU Soccer Field)
Watch Live | Live Stats
Game 2
Ball State at Lipscomb
Sunday, Aug. 23 (1 p.m.)
Nashville, Tenn. (Lipscomb Soccer Complex)
Live Stats
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State soccer team opens the 2015 regular season with a weekend road trip down south.
The Cardinals will get the season underway Friday night at Jacksonville State on the OVC Digital Network and then head up to Lipscomb to close out the weekend with a Sunday afternoon contest.
It marks the beginning of a heavy slate of road games in the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Cardinals will play seven of their first eight on the road before Mid-American Conference play begins in late September.
A preseason co-favorite in the MAC West Division, Ball State was a 3-0 winner over IUPUI last week in its only exhibition tuneup. Chelsy Swackhamer, Abbey Fiser and Leah Mattingly accounted for the Cardinals' goals.
This weekend's matchups will provide early tests as the Cardinals square off against a pair of teams that finished near the top of their respective conferences a year ago.
Jacksonville State went 11-10-1 last year, including a 6-4-0 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference, and reached the finals of the OVC Tournament. The Gamecocks played two exhibition games, falling to UAB (3-1) and South Alabama (1-0).
Lipscomb went 10-7-2 last season and finished second in the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 4-2-1 record in league play. The Lady Bisons also had two exhibition games, defeating Belmont (3-0) and playing UAB to a draw (0-0).
Ball State, now in its sixth season under head coach Craig Roberts, is looking to build on two consecutive 11-win campaigns. The team returns four of its top six goal scorers and also welcomes 11 talented newcomers to the mix.
For a complete preview of this weekend's games, check out This Week in Ball State Soccer.
