For the second time in school history, the Ball State University women's soccer team finished as runner-up for the regular season conference title and captured the second seed in the Mid-American Conference tournament.
The Cardinals narrowly beat Miami 2-1 on Friday, giving Ball State its 15th win on the season, a team record. Ball State was kept out of the No. 1 seed by Bowling Green, which also won on Friday clinching the regular season championship for the first time in the Falcons' school history.
Ball State will play host to No. 7 seed Kent State on Tuesday at Ball State Soccer Field. Ball State defeated Kent State 2-0 on Sept. 23, and it will be the first time the teams have played each other in the MAC tournament.
The quick turnaround from Friday to Tuesday led to coach Ron Rainey telling his players to rest well during the weekend for Kent State.
"We have to recover and rest out bodies well in order to be prepared for the tournament this week," Rainey said.
Before Ball State could focus on Kent State, they needed to get by Miami.
Sophomore Angie Heyer came away with both goals for the Cardinals. Heyer opened up scoring six minutes into the game with a chip shot near the net. Ball State shut out Miami for the rest of the first half but would give up a Miami goal in the 65th minute in the second half.
"I thought we had some really good play in that first half, and we kept the ball in our control for most of it," Rainey said. "The second half was different in the fact that it was a lot of back-and-forth play, which gave them some more shots."
Miami outshot Ball State 8-3 in the second half, giving them a 10-8 advantage by the end of the game. Ball State retaliated quickly, however, to Miami's goal in the second half. Heyer scored the game-winning goal five minutes later, on a header off of a corner kick.
"After they scored, we did a better job of playing some balls in their space behind their defense," Rainey said.
Senior defender Krista Mitts said the team is ready to move past the regular season and get to the tournament game.
"We came into Miami needing a win, and we got one," Mitts said. "Now we have to focus on preparing for another battle on Tuesday and get another win by doing what we've done all year."
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Ball State finished first in eight MAC statistical categories. The team led the conference in shots, points, corners, goals and goals per game. The team's defense finished on top in goals allowed, goals against average and shutouts. Sarah Leibel finished first in the MAC with the most shots (53) and most shots per game (2.79) in a season.
Junior goalkeeper Alison Becker set herself apart from other goalies in the league again this year. Becker finished for the second straight season with a league-low goals against average (0.58) and most shutouts (8). She also led the MAC in save percentage (.847).
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
