After the field hockey team dropped two conference games overthe weekend, head coach Annette Payne said the key to beating No.23 Ohio State on Wednesday would be focus.
The Cardinals responded by giving up five goals to the Buckeyesin a 5-2 loss, sending them to their third straight loss. BallState (5-8) is now three games below .500, its lowest point in thepast two seasons.
"We came out focused, but obviously there were a couple mentalbreakdowns along the way," Payne said.
The mental breakdowns came in a four-minute span in the firsthalf in which Ohio State scored three goals, and a five-minute spanin the second half in which the Buckeyes scored twice. The Buckeyesdid not score outside those nine minutes.
"In those couple minutes we just lost focus and allowed them toscore," Payne said. "We broke down in some areas, and, as soon aswe did, they took them as opportunities to score goals."
Ball State scored first on a goal by senior Kirsty Houghton with15:37 to play in the first half. On the goal, freshman Lindsay Quayfaked a shot and drew Ohio State's goalie to the right side. Quaythen passed to a wide-open Houghton on the left side, who thendrilled the ball into the net.
That's when the Buckeyes came to life. They scored their firstgoal with eight minutes to go in the half. Two minutes later, theyscored again. Two minutes after that, the Buckeyes put in a reboundoff a corner shot.
An unassisted goal by junior Holly Frantz right before halftimebrought the Cardinals to 3-2 at the break.
With 20 minutes left to play, Ohio State struck again to takeanother two-goal lead. Five minutes later, the Buckeyes scored onemore time off a penalty corner to take a 5-2 lead.
Even though they were outscored 2-0 in the second half, theCardinals actually outshot Ohio State in the period. Payne,however, could not explain the second half shutout.
"The ball just didn't fly our way this afternoon," Paynesaid.
Frantz agreed that the Cardinals just couldn't find the goal,but, like Payne, blamed the loss on mental breakdowns.
"We came out focused and then we let them take control of ourgame, and that's when we broke down. It was an all-around breakdownon defense."
Five goals is the most the Cardinals have given up this year.This is Ball State's second losing streak of at least three gamesthis season.
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