The women's soccer team accomplished another first on Tuesday afternoon, defeating the Western Michigan Broncos 3-1. It is the first postseason victory in Ball State soccer home-field history. The victory advances the Cardinals to a Friday afternoon match against Ohio. The match will take place on the campus of Miami University.
Ball State's overall record increased to 14-5-1 after the win.
Kate Nadalin put the Cardinals out in front early in the second half, when she chipped the ball over the goalkeeper's head. Senior Ehren Reagor was credited with the assist on the play.
Nadalin tacked on another goal 15 minutes later, off a mishandled ball by Kate Perz, WMU's goalkeeper. There was no assist on the play.
Finally, Shannon Pascoe scored with about 10 minutes remaining in the game off an assist from Lindsey Wiltshire. It was Pascoe's first goal of the year, and it gave the Cardinals a comfortable 3-0 lead. Western Michigan's Sara Cultra added its lone goal minutes later, and the game ended at 3-1.
It was the second time this season that Ball State has defeated Western Michigan, and the score in the earlier match was also 3-1.
"When you take into consideration the poor weather conditions, I feel we may have played our best game of the season. We did all the little things right," head coach Ron Rainey said.
Rainey also said that the team needs to enjoy the win before coming back out to prepare for Friday's match against Ohio.
"From here on out, we will need to play our best matches of the season to be successful," he said.
The team defeated Ohio earlier this season by a margin of 2-0. Ohio advanced to the semifinals by knocking off the No. 6 seed, Eastern Michigan. Miami was also victorious in its first round match. It soundly defeated Central Michigan 5-1.
"Our hard work set up numerous opportunities and luckily we finished on some of those today," Rainey said. "I don't think Kate was doing anything different today than she has all season long. She is such a hard worker in practice and that carries over to the games."
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