It was no secret coming into Friday’s match between Ball State and Eastern Illinois that the Cardinals were heavily favored.
Ball State lived up to the billing delivering a decisive 3-0 victory, giving a robust crowd plenty of reasons to make noise with the promotional pseudo-vuvuzelas.
On its first possession of the game Ball State showed its approach, sending an immediate long ball and garnering a shot within the first 30 seconds of the match.
“We were looking for the girls to have more of an attacking mentality,” coach Craig Roberts said.
The Cardinals did just that.
Ball State took an astounding 22 shots in the first half, four more than Eastern Illinois had in its first four games.
Though the Cardinals pounded away at the net early in the first half, their season-long finishing woes persisted. Then around the 20th minute Roberts went to his bench, and what ensued was an offensive onslaught.
Senior Maimee Morris, sophomore-transfer Elaina Musleh and freshman Kelsey Wendlandt all entered the game together to give Ball State some fresh legs in attacking positions.
“When we come off the bench, we’re always looking to just better the team,” Musleh said. “We come in and try and up the intensity.”
Within three minutes of stepping onto the pitch, Musleh found Morris at the top of the 18-yard box. The only player on the field without a ponytail then labeled a shot into the right corner giving Eastern Illinois’ keeper Kylie Morgan no chance.
Before the crowd could sit back down, Musleh then connected with Wendlandt for another soundly struck finish 14 seconds later.
As they have done all season, Ball State’s cohesive midfield dominated, keeping pushed forward and not letting the ball out of Eastern Illinois’ defensive third.
“We love to play together,” Musleh said of the midfielders. “We know what we like to do, and we always try and get the ball to each other.”
In the 44th minute, Musleh received a pass towards the middle of the field, and instead of going back towards the strong side turned, switched the field and found a streaking Erin Greely who was able to convert, curling a shot into the lower left corner.
“Elaina played great, obviously with the three assists,” Roberts said. “She’s really starting to find her niche out there, and just finding the rhythm of the time.”
After the dominate first half, in which freshman goalkeeper Brooke Dennis only used her hands three times—not for saves, but to scoop up errant passes-- Ball State used the second half as an opportunity to continue mixing and matching lineups, giving other players a chance to prove themselves.
“We want to make sure that all the girls know that they have a responsibility,” Roberts said. “One thing I thought we did a really good job with was the players that haven’t had many minutes this season are still giving us the effort and intensity we need.”
Twenty-six different Cardinals made their way onto the field, and, no matter the combination, stifled the Panthers.
With 31 shots and three goals it’s easy to loss track of the defense, but Ball State’s backline have proven to be a formidable group. This was the group’s second shut out of the year, and they have only surrendered two goals through the first four games.
“They have just been so consistent in their duties,” Roberts said. “They are always positioned well to deal with anything thrown at them.”
Other than Dennis, senior defender Kelsey Shapiro was the only play to stay on the field the full 90 minutes for Ball State. Nothing new to Shapiro, who has played in every second of the potential 360 minutes.
“We played really well today, and we’re looking to pick it up every game,” Musleh said.
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