On Senior Day, it was only fitting that the seniors of Ball State University's soccer team led the way. Behind seniors Sarah Maxwell and Vandi Ogden's two goals in the first 15 minutes, the Cardinals turned a wet and dreary day into the most glorious afternoon in the program's eight-year history, en route to a 4-2 win against Miami University.
The victory gave Ball State its first Mid-American Conference regular-season championship.
Maxwell's goal, which came at the 5:44 mark in the first half, was the first regular-season goal of her career. The Cardinals count on their senior defender primarily for her defensive prowess. However, Maxwell said providing offense early helped the team take control of the contest.
"Coming in, we wanted to step up right away," Maxwell said. "I think it gave us confidence, especially since we didn't know how hard it would be to score goals in these [weather] conditions."
Ball State coach Michelle Salmon said Maxwell's first goal was foreshadowed during the week of practice leading up to the match. The play on which Maxwell scored, a header off a Lindsay Martin corner kick, had been a staple drill for the Cardinals all week.
"Sarah was actually practicing that exact play all week in practice," Salmon said. "I asked her, 'What are you doing,' and she told me, 'Coach, I think we can score off this play'. Sure enough, it happened like she said."
Ogden added her goal a little more than six minutes later, at the 12:03 mark of the first half. However, the senior midfielder said the midfield's ability to control the tempo of the match was more important to Ball State's success.
"It was crucial to set the tempo," Ogden said. "It was important that we played our game, and I think that we did that today."
One of the major keys to the match was which team could handle the sloppy field conditions best. After the final seconds ticked away, the scoreboard certainly indicated the Cardinals won that battle. Ogden said her team's experience in bad weather enabled the club to keep its focus on the match at hand.
"We've actually played in worse [conditions than this]," Ogden said. "So we didn't really worry about the field conditions. We just tried to play the best soccer we could. This was too important of a game to worry about the weather."
While Ball State handled the field conditions better, they still had its problems defensively. The Cardinals surrendered two goals to Miami's Kathleen Vistica and Allison Berkey.
"[Miami] spread the field out up top," Maxwell said. "They played really wide and were able to get in for a couple goals. But overall I thought we played well considering the weather."
The seniors were not the only players who made major contributions. Sophomore forward Emily Rein and midfielder Annie Aiello each contributed a goal and assist, while junior defender Lindsay Martin had two assists off corner kicks. Maxwell said the team effort made the win, and championship, even more satisfying.
"We kind of had a theme at halftime," Maxwell said. "We just wanted to back each other up and keep coming one right after the other. We played as a group, and that's really the reason we were so successful."
After the match, Ogden had a hard time finding words to describe the way Ball State's monumental accomplishment felt.
"I'm just speechless right now," Ogden said. "It's pretty dang cool. To win a MAC championship and score a goal all on senior day, I don't think you could make it any better than that."
As happy as the feeling is on the Cardinals' side right now, Salmon said her team won't be celebrating too long. Ball State will host the quarterfinals match Sunday afternoon at Ball State Field. The opponent is currently unknown.
"We're only going to be celebrating this [championship] tonight," Salmon said. "Tomorrow we're going to go to work preparing for our next game in the quarterfinals. It's great to win the championship, but we're still not done yet this season."
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