This weekend proved to coach Michael Lovett that the best team does not always win.
The Ball State University soccer team (7-7, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) lost a pair of 1-0 games this weekend with a double overtime loss to Bowling Green State University (9-3-3, 4-1-1 MAC) Friday and then another loss to the University of Toledo (9-4, 4-2 MAC) Sunday.
"We definitely dominated two games and came out on the lower half of both of them," forward Jacki Eft said.
Lovett said the Cardinals were the better team in both games this weekend. They did everything except find the back of the net, he said.
Friday Ball State outshot Bowling Green 13-12. The one period that the Falcons outshot the Cardinals was the second overtime, when they scored the game's one goal on the only shot of the period.
Sunday Ball State more than tripled the amount of shots Toledo had, with 20 compared to the Rockets' six. However, the Rockets' Molly Cornwell, who led the conference in goals last year, converted on her fourth goal of the season to score the lone goal of the game about 24 minutes into it.
The losses were heartbreakers, Lovett said, especially the double overtime loss to Bowling Green.
"It hurt," he said. "It hurt me as a coach. It hurt them, because we gave everything we had into that game."
With the pair of losses, Ball State fell to 3-3 in conference play this season with five games remaining. Ball State previously had not lost three games during MAC play since the 2003 season.
The three losses put the Cardinals into the opposite position as they had been in the past couple of years. The past two years Ball State won the regular season MAC championship with an 8-2-1 record in 2006 and a 9-1-1 record in 2007.
Since MAC play began in 1997, no team has lost three games during the conference play and won the regular season championship.
With three losses, Eft said the Cardinals' chances of getting a third-consecutive regular season title are almost gone.
"I don't think we have a very good chance right now, but I don't think that really matters," she said.
Both Eft and Lovett said Ball State's goal all season has been to win the MAC tournament championship and make the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
The team is still in good position for the MAC Tournament, Lovett said, as it is giving a 100 percent effort and playing well.
"If the tournament started tomorrow I can honestly think I can say there is not one team that would want to play us, because we're very scary," Lovett said.
Five things to take away1. Ball State has three losses in conference play for the first time since the 2003 season.
2. No Mid-American Conference team has won the regular season championship with three losses in conference play.
3. Coach Michael Lovett said although it would be nice to win a regular season championship, the team is focused on the MAC tournament.
4. Last year Miami earned the final spot in the MAC tournament with a 4-6-1 record.
5. Friday's double overtime loss was the Cardinals' first overtime loss since Oct. 8, 2006. It was their first double overtime loss since Sept. 26, 2003.
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