Ball State University
(0-5)
Northwestern
(3-2)
Field Hockey Opens Home Slate With 3-1 Loss To No. 10 Northwestern
September 08, 2015 | Field Hockey
MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State (0-5) field hockey team played No. 10 Northwestern (3-2) even for a half, but a pair of second-half goals lifted the Wildcats to a 3-1 victory Tuesday afternoon at the Ball State Turf Field in the Briner Sports Complex.
In Ball State's home opener, redshirt senior Bianca Velez (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam/Beach Premier) notched the Cardinals lone goal in the 21st minute.
“I feel like if they could just keep up consistent play and do the simple things really well that we would have had a chance to at least throw Northwestern off a little bit and challenge them and get in their heads a little bit,” Ball State field hockey head coach Sally Northcroft said. “It's only a matter of seconds and the whole game can change. Northwestern is a highly skilled and disciplined team so they were able to absorb the pressure, but I think that the thing we did the best was just work unbelievably hard, kept things simple and looked out for our teammates.”
The Cardinals and the Wildcats remained scoreless through just the first eight minutes of the game. Dominique Masters opened the scoring off a penalty stroke, followed by Velez' penalty stroke rebound prior to halftime. Northwestern's Kelley Stump secured the game after tallying a pair of goals in the second half.
Back in net, junior goalkeeper Jordan Dues (Fallbrook, Calif./Fallbrook) made her fifth start of the season and recorded six saves for a .667 save percentage.
“A big thing we have been working on is being able to make tackles with two people on the ball, and that made a huge difference and it really takes the pressure off the defense,” Northcroft said. “Having our forwards and our midfielders work back and play a team game, whether we were on offense or defense made a huge difference here.”
Assisting Velez was Bryce Barnes (Fredericksburg, Va./Mountain View) and Lexi Kavanaugh (Sherrill, N.Y./Vernon Verona Sherrill), while Merinda Morley (University City, Mo./University City) tallied the third shot on goal for the day.
Crucial to the final outcome of the game, Northwestern benefitted from 12 penalty corners to Ball State's five, of which resulted in three of the four combined goals. Northwestern also held a 22-4 advantage in attempted shots, which included nine shots on goal to the Cardinals three.
“We're working on it, and we still have a fair ways to go but it's certainly getting better,” noted Northcroft.
The Ball State field hockey team continues this week's action Friday, Sept. 11, when they travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State, followed by welcoming Appalachian State to the Briner Sports Complex on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 2 p.m.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State field hockey, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateFH on Twitter.
Team Stats
van Agt, Eva
Assisted By: Masters, Dominique
Off a penalty corner
8:30
VELEZ, Bianca (1)
Assisted By: BARNES, Bryce , KAVANAUGH, Lexi
Off a penalty corner
21:22
Stump, Kelley
Assisted By: Masters, Dominique
Off a penalty corner
37:41
Stump, Kelley
GOAL by NU Stump, Kelley.
43:01
