With a pair of shutouts this weekend, the Ball State University soccer team remained undefeated in the Mid-American Conference, and set a Ball State record for most consecutive shutouts.
The Cardinals (7-4, 4-0 MAC) recorded a school-record fifth consecutive shutout with a 1-0 win against the University of Akron (6-3-3, 1-2-1 MAC) Sunday. It was also their fourth consecutive shutout against MAC opponents, which is also a school record.
Ball State began the weekend with a 1-0 win against Ohio University (3-6-2, 3-1 MAC) Friday.
"It really just shows how our whole team's defense, how good we are," defender Jen Vilkoski said. "Teams are going to have to work hard against us to be able to score. They going to have to change the way they do things to be able to score on us."
In Sunday's win against Akron, goalkeeper Rachael Murphy recorded a season-high four saves.
In the five shutouts, Ball State allowed 6.4 shots per game. The Cardinals' offense averages 15.5 shots per game this season.
"Our system is designed to limit the amount of opportunities our opponent has against us," coach Michelle Salmon said.
Ball State entered the weekend second in the MAC with 0.89 goals allowed per game. The University of Toledo led the MAC with 0.8 goals per game. However, Ball State entered the weekend last in the MAC with 2.11 saves per game.
"It just shows that they don't let many shots, they don't let many chances, I don't have to make that many saves," Murphy said.
With a 0.54 goals against average, Murphy is on pace to finish the season second in Ball State history. Megan Swafford set the record in 2003 with a 0.51 goals against average.
The Ball State record for shutouts in a season is nine by Alison Becker in 2004 and 2005. Swafford is third on the list with eight in 2001. Murphy recorded seven shutouts in 2006, fourth on the career list.
"In the 89th minute [Akron] had a shot that with any other keeper would have gone in," Salmon said. "Because we have Rachael Murphy and because she is such as special keeper, she tips the ball over the bar, it's a save and preserves the win. And that's what our system is built upon. Limit the amount of opportunities, but when the opportunities present themselves, we have a keeper in position that can deal with that situation."
Vilkoski, Murphy and Salmon all said the entire team deserves credit for the Cardinals' defense.
"The thing about shutouts is that they only go to the goalkeeper when they should really go to the team as a whole," Murphy said.
Salmon said Ball State's defenders have found their groove.
"It took some time to click but now their playing off each other well," Salmon said.
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