Soccer comes out with a shaky win against Akron

Ball State forward Sam Kambol protects the ball from Morehead State's midfielder Haley Best during the game on Sept. 16 at the Briner Sports Complex. Ball State won 4-0. Grace Ramey // DN
Ball State forward Sam Kambol protects the ball from Morehead State's midfielder Haley Best during the game on Sept. 16 at the Briner Sports Complex. Ball State won 4-0. Grace Ramey // DN

Ball State game leaders: 

Goals: Sam Kambol (1)

Shots: Paula Guerrero, Julia Elvbo, Yela Ziswiler, and Sam Kambol (2)

Saves: Tristin Stuteville (2)

Ball State's rematch against Akron on Sept. 25 was the redemption Ball State was looking for after the Cardinals were eliminated from the Mid-American Conference Tournament by Akron in penalty kicks.

Still, head coach Craig Roberts said he expected more out of his team than a 1-0 victory, especially after Friday's 1-0 win over Buffalo.

"I think [Friday] was one of the most delivered, tactical games the girls have played and I thought they did exceptionally well today but we were very inconsistent," Roberts said "I did not feel we played anywhere near the full potential; players did not follow the game-plan. So we're going to have to revisit which players will be able to execute this Friday and Sunday." 

Freshman forward Sam Kambol scored the lone goal of the game, which moves Ball State to 7-2-1 (2-0 MAC). She now has three goals on the season.

"The coaches have been telling me I really need to work on accelerating and trying to zip into certain positions and get behind the defense," Kambol said. "I think as the games go on, I'm progressing better and I am adjusting to college play, so I think today I was lucky enough to get one in."

Kambol's unassisted goal was scored in the 53rd minute because she saw the space and opportunity the defense gave her and shot it right into the bottom left corner of the net.

"I think one of the big things [Roberts] says is to try and take people on and sometimes when you do see space or do see that you kind of have to take two people on, you kind of just have to go for it," Kambol said. "Especially as a forward. That's one of our biggest struggles right now is forwards haven't been getting a lot of shots, so right now I think being able to try and dribble through people and getting shots is very important for us."

Sept. 30, the Cardinals play at Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m., followed by a game at 1 p.m. Oct. 1 at Central Michigan.

And after beating Akron, Roberts addressed the post-game team huddle longer than usual. He wants to see cleaner play in next weekend's Michigan road trip.

"We're going to go there to try and win," Roberts said. "Getting three points in each game is very important if you want to pursue things. Teams' objectives may be just to make the tournament, just getting enough points to do that. We don't. We play every game to win the game and that's our mentality, that's what we're all about."

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