The Ball State University soccer team entered last weekend with an eight-match winning streak. The Cardinals had also been unbeaten in their previous nine matches.
However, after two disappointing losses to Central Michigan University and Eastern Michigan University, the streak is gone.
The squad lost a 2-1 heartbreaker in overtime on Sunday to Eastern Michigan after thoroughly dominating play for most of the game.
"When you dominate an opponent and have countless chances to put a team away and then we just let them in, it's very frustrating," coach Michelle Salmon said. "At the end of the day, our focus wasn't here this weekend, and we just didn't play well. We didn't play well as a team from top to bottom."
To explain Salmon's frustration in numbers, the Cardinals out-shot Eastern Michigan 17-3 in regulation. However, Ball State was only able to score one goal in its 17 shots, nine of which were placed on goal.
"We lost the game in regulation," Salmon said. "We didn't lose it in overtime by any means. We lost because we just failed to execute this weekend. Some weekends you're going to have that, when you have I don't know how many chances in front of the net and you just can't bury them."
With 85:38 remaining in regulation the Cardinals held a 1-0 lead and looked to be on their way to a weekend split. That's when Eastern Michigan's Katie Lozar evened the score at one. Then, in the sixth minute of overtime, Maggie Christensen won the game for the Eagles.
"It was disappointing because we had all the potential in the world to win it," sophomore forward Sarah Schumacker said. "We just lost our focus at the end. That happens sometimes. We just have to forget it and move on."
Perhaps the lack of focus was due to Ball State's devastating loss on Friday to Central Michigan. The Cardinals fell to the Chippewas 3-0 and controlled the ball for the final three-fourths of the match.
"I think we had a lot of mental breakdowns," senior defender Sarah Maxwell said. "They just kept attacking and we made some mental errors. We made some mental errors on defense, myself especially. But we just got on our heels and let them keep coming again and again."
Ball State came out strong at the start of the contest and was on the offensive for much of the first 25 minutes. Central Michigan scored three goals in a span of 7:27 in the first half, and the match wasn't close the rest of the way.
"The first fifteen minutes I don't know how many chances we had," Salmon said. "Central Michigan is a very good team, and that's why they were ranked 20th in the nation at one point this season. [On Friday], it came down to who executed during the final third [of the match] and we didn't."
The Cardinals, who were atop the Mid-American Conference at 4-0 entering the weekend, took a serious hit in the MAC standings. However, Ball State is still in a good position in the conference. The Cardinals are tied for second at 4-2 behind the University of Toledo [4-1-1].
"The MAC is still wide open," Salmon said. "If we would've come away from this weekend at five-and-one or six-and-zero the pressure would be on everybody else, and they'd be playing catch-up to us.
"Now, we've put ourselves in a position where we're not in the driver seat anymore. We need to re-commit ourselves and re-establish the presence we had in the MAC."
Luckily for the Cardinals, they'll get that chance to redeem themselves this weekend. Ohio University, who is tied with Ball State inthe MAC, will be traveling to play the Cardinals on Friday.
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