After seemingly hitting bottom Sunday, the Ball State University field hockey team continued its downhill slide Wednesday afternoon.
Ball State lost 5-0 to No. 18 Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The loss is Ball State's fifth in a row and leaves them with a 1-6 record with one game left before the Mid-American Conference season starts. It also comes on the heels of a 2-1 loss to St. Louis University.
"We played a very good first twenty minutes," coach Annette Payne said. "We had some opportunities and just didn't convert."
Ohio State outshot Ball State 20-1 and had a 16-1 advantage on penalty corners. Payne was happy with the way her team defended the multitude of corners Ohio State had.
"They did a very good job considering the count," Payne said. "Ohio State has good ball speed and they build the ball very well."
Freshman midfielder Caitlin Maguire said she felt helpless as she watched her teammates try to fight off all the penalty corners.
"It was definitely hard on the defense," Maguire said. "As an offensive player I didn't know what I could do to help. It was hard to watch all those shots."
In Ball State's current five-game slide they have been outscored 22-6 and outshot 84-26. The offense has continued to lag even with the return of junior forward Brooke MacGillivary from a back injury and the emergence of freshman forward Brittany Hammer.
"Particularly in the second half I'd like to have seen more attack opportunities," Payne said. "It's a situation where we have to regroup. We're tying to figure it out slowly. This is a great team, we just need to find a way to be consistent."
Ball State did not record a shot until the 54th minute at Ohio State, when Hammer was able to put a shot on goal after intercepting a pass about 16 yards out and turning it into a breakaway. At that point in the game, the Buckeyes were already ahead 4-0 and had inserted their backup goalie. Ohio State sophomore Ali Ristas saved the shot to preserve the Buckeyes fourth shutout of the season and second in a row.
"Really they just attacked well," Maguire said. "There best defense was their best offense. We weren't playing the game we know how to play to stop that."
Goalkeeper Tiffany Shifflett had seven saves, bringing her total for the season to 35. Senior defender Jodi Mann gave her goalkeeper a bit of help with a defensive save on a penalty corner, but it was too little to hold the Buckeyes in check in their second home game of the season.
"We're down, but not out," Maguire said. "We're just trying to take each loss one at a time and learn from them."
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