After her freshman year, no one expected sophomore goalkeeper Tiffany Shifflett to explode onto the scene in the Mid-American Conference in 2007.
However, when classmate and 2006 starter Caroline Lehman departed the Ball State University field hockey team due to a chronic back injury, the field opened up.
Shifflett jumped in, beating out freshman Christina Niccum for the starting job and proceeding to play every minute of every game for the Cardinals this season.
"It's a strenuous job," Shifflett's coach, Annette Payne, said. "This is her first year that she's suited up for every match and started. That's a big challenge. She's doing a great job."
Shifflett owns 142 saves through the end of the regular season for Ball State, giving her the fifth-highest total by any Cardinals goalie for a single season. With 12 more saves, Shifflett could climb as high as third. However, Payne said that the sophomore would trade those saves for more scoring by her own team.
"I think she would say that as many saves as she has, that she would obviously give them up for more shots on the other side of the field," Payne said. "She understands it's a process. Whatever she can do to keep the team progressing is exactly what she'd choose to do."
"During preseason, you could see [her talent] a lot," senior back Nicole Humphreys said of Shifflett's talent. "But then our first game against Villanova, she had an excellent game. She really stepped it up. I knew from then on out she was going to fit well and she was going to have a great season with us."
Shifflett compiled a career-high 17 saves that day, including two saves in overtime, which still remains her highest mark of the season. The Cardinals gained a 3-2 upset against Villanova University to open the season.
"I'd have to say the Villanova game was probably the best game I've ever played in my life," Shifflett said. "That was definitely a game where I built my own confidence up, knowing that I should be playing college field hockey. That game really helped me a lot."
Having played about 35 minutes, or the equivalent of one half, her freshman year, Shifflett entered 2007 with little college experience.
However, as a five-year letterwinner at Hampton Roads Academy in Yorktown, Va., including two years leading her high school team to conference titles, she had displayed her skill.
Payne said her goalkeeper is an intelligent player in addition to being talented.
"I think she has been a goalkeeper that has been very smart," Payne said. "She's been very good at analyzing play. Obviously it came out in preseason and then against Villanova she played incredibly well."
Shifflett is a pre-law major and one attribute common to pre-law and field hockey that Shifflett displays, said her teammates and coach, is communication.
"She communicates well," Humphreys said. "She fits really well in our defensive unit."
Shifflett returned the compliments to her defensive unit.
"I think our defense as a unit has really all worked together, so it helped me to be confident," Shifflett said. "I never feel like they give up on me if I make a mistake. Everybody helps pick each other up if anything goes wrong."
As the Cardinals prepare for the conference tournament beginning on Thursday, Payne can be sure her player in the cage will be ready to take her game to a new level as Ball State attempts to replicate their run to the league title game of a year ago.
"Tiffany has always loved a challenge," Payne said. "She can always see the next challenge, and she steps it up a notch."
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