Game Leaders:
Shots: Paula Guerrero (5)
Shots on goal: Lauren Roll (2)
Goals: Lauren Roll (1)
Assists: Allison Abbe (1)
Ball State midfielder Lauren Roll had a smile on her face as her teammates heckled her with "Roll sucks" chants.
But her teammates know Roll doesn't suck, especially after her goal helped the Cardinals win their Mid-American Conference opener against Buffalo 1-0.
Roll said she pictured herself scoring last night.
"I mean, if I'm going to be perfectly honest, I had a dream last night that I did something during the game and for it to actually happen is really weird," Roll said. "It's like an epiphany-type thing."
Roll scored in the 10th minute off a through ball by senior forward Allison Abbe. The goal gave the team a "cushion" against the Bulls, who have taken the Cardinals to overtime in their last two meetings.
"Warming up for the game I had some really good shots, and I was really in the groove of things," Roll said. "For the first time the whole season I actually had some nerves going into the game, but I was ready, I was anticipating the game, I was excited for the whole atmosphere."
Senior Leah Mattingly, sophomore Taylor Pooley and senior Lorina White anchored the shutdown defense that held Buffalo to a single shot the entire game, while the offense got off 20 shots.
The win was also the 100th of head coach Craig Roberts' career.
"It's a great achievement — I'm very proud of that," Roberts said. "To get 100 wins and to get your 100th win against a quality team like Buffalo — they're always hardworking, they're always organized ... Very commendable performance in regards to the girls, I'm very proud of them."
Conference play continues on Sept. 25 against Akron, who knocked Ball State out of the MAC Tournament last season. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Briner Sports Complex.
"We really wanted to win this game because we've always gone into overtime against Buffalo," Roll said. "And so I can't even tell you how much we're going to want to win Akron, especially since how they ended our season last year."
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