Soccer Visits Xavier, Hosts Appalachian State This Weekend

Game 3
Ball State at Xavier
Friday, Aug. 25 (4:30 p.m.)
Cincinnati, Ohio (XU Soccer Complex)
Live Stats

Game 4
Ball State vs. Appalachian State
Sunday, Aug. 27 (Noon)
Muncie, Ind. (Briner Sports Complex)
Live Stats

The Ball State soccer team returns to action this weekend with a Friday trip to Xavier and a Sunday home contest with Appalachian State. Admission to all BSU home games is free. Sunday's game will feature concessions deals with $1 hot dogs and Pepsi products.

Ball State and Xavier played to a 1-1 draw last season in Muncie, while the Cardinals and Appalachian State will be meeting for the first time.

The Teams
• Ball State owns a 1-1-0 record after splitting two games last weekend to open the regular season. The Cardinals posted a 2-0 home victory over Fort Wayne and suffered a 4-0 setback at No. 18 Notre Dame after playing the Fighting Irish even through 57 minutes.

• Xavier also enters Friday's contest at 1-1-0. The Musketeers opened the season at home last weekend with a 3-2 victory over Cleveland State and then went on the road for a 3-1 loss at 12th-ranked Duke.

• Appalachian State visits Muncie with a record of 0-2-0. The Mountaineers suffered a pair of 1-0 losses in the season's opening weekend, falling at home to High Point and on the road at Campbell.

About the Cardinals
• Sophomore Sam Kambol and junior Evie Stepaniak accounted for Ball State's goals in the opening weekend. Kambol picked up right where she left off after leading last year's team with six goals in her rookie campaign. Stepaniak, a transfer from Cincinnati State, scored in her first game in a Ball State uniform.

• All three goalkeepers on the Ball State roster saw action in the opening weekend. Seniors Alyssa Heintschel and Tristin Stuteville earned the starting nods against Fort Wayne and Notre Dame, respectively. Freshman Madison Lockard saw her first collegiate action, playing the final seven minutes of the Fort Wayne contest to finish off the shutout.

• Senior defender Sam Mattlin officially made her return to the field. Knee injuries forced Mattlin to miss the final 13 games of the 2015 season and all 20 contests in 2016, but she was back on the field for all 180 minutes over the Cardinals' two games last weekend.

• Ball State returns 16 letterwinners from last season and welcomes the addition of 12 newcomers, including nine freshmen and three transfers. Eight newcomers saw action for the Cardinals in the opening weekend.

Cincinnati Connections
Friday's game at Xavier will serve as a sort of homecoming for several Ball State players ... Junior M Lauren Roll prepped at McAuley High School in Cincinnati ... Junior M/F Evie Stepaniak played at Lakota West High School outside Cincinnati and then spent her first two years of collegiate soccer at Cincinnati State ... Senior D Sam Mattlin is from Guilford, Indiana, on the Ohio border and attended high school at Mother of Mercy in Cincinnati.

Soccer Visits Xavier, Hosts Appalachian State This Weekend

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Heintschel

Sam Kambol

Madison Lockard

Sam Mattlin

Lauren Roll

Tristin Stuteville