The soccer team's five-match winning streak came to an end Sunday afternoon when the Cardinals were beaten 2-1 by Central Michigan. The loss followed Ball State's 2-0 victory over Eastern Michigan on Friday.
The weekend split moved the Cardinals' record to 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference. The team remains in second place in league play.
The Chippewas' win over Ball State gave them a weekend sweep of the MAC's top two teams, including a victory against front-running Miami, Friday.
Freshman Brenda Scoczelas scored the Cardinals only goal in Sunday's match off a corner kick in the 41st minute.
"I honestly thought we played a much better brand of soccer Sunday than we did on Friday," head coach Ron Rainey said. "Overall, it was a very equal game and the difference between Friday and Sunday was us not finishing our opportunities and not being able to stop theirs."
Rainey went on to say that the team possessed the ball much better on Sunday than Friday.
"We have to realize that we took a loss in the conference," he said. "We need to come out next week, be prepared to have some good practices, and try to start another win streak.
In Friday's win over Eastern Michigan, sophomore Kate Nadalin scored her team-leading 5th and 6th goals. The first was a header that came early in the second half to put the Cardinals out in front. The second goal came minutes before the final buzzer to help seal the victory.
"Kate's first score was incredible," Rainey said, "and it would have been a goal against anybody in our league.
Senior Eileen Weinheimer was credited with the assist on Nadalin's first goal, while junior Michelle Dineen had an assist on the second.
"Eastern Michigan is a really good team who kept coming at us for 90 minutes," said Rainey. "They put a ton of pressure on us and just wouldn't let up."
"We did what we had to do defensively and we were able to score on two counterattacks, which was very good to see," he said. "I think we are maturing a lot as a team and starting to play a much more complete game."
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