A 4-2 victory against Miami University ended the 2006 regular season and secured the first Mid-American Conference championship for the Ball State University soccer team.
Three days later Miami defeated Ball State in the first round of the conference tournament.
"We're kind of out to get them," senior Lindsay Martin said.
With a win against the RedHawks this season, the Cardinals would avenge the loss to the RedHawks and give them their second consecutive MAC championship.
"We really don't think about last year," Martin said. "We've arrived at basically the same situation, but it's a different season."
Even though the Cardinals are playing for a MAC championship, coach Michelle Salmon said, there is no added pressure on the team. She said all the MAC games are tough and require the same mind-set.
While the preparation is the same for the Miami game, Salmon said, it is more of a rivalry for Ball State than other MAC teams.
"It's probably our biggest rivalry because of the respect that we have for each other," Salmon said.
Another aspect of the rivalry is the geography. Miami is the closest MAC university to Ball State and close to some Ball State players' homes.
Nine players on the Ball State roster are from southwest Ohio, where the Miami campus is located. Seniors Martin and Sarah Leibel, juniors Emily Rein, Sarah Schumacker and Jen Vilkoski, sophomore Gillian Belfort, freshmen Kristina Anderson, Cortney Coombs and Meg Mellott are all from the area.
Ball State will have a lot of fans at the game because of the proximity, Martin said.
"It's going to feel like a home environment," she said.
Despite Cincinnati's proximity to the Miami campus, Martin said, the RedHawks do not recruit many players from the city.
The RedHawks have one player from Cincinnati and one from Oxford, Ohio.
However, Martin said she and a lot of other Ball State players have friends at Miami. She also said the game is important to her because it is her last regular season game for Ball State.
While she would like to win the conference championship in her senior year, Martin said, the team has more goals.
"We're working for more than just a MAC championship this year," Martin said.
Ball State is 4-4-1 all-time against Miami. The Cardinals won the previous four regular season meetings between the teams.
A win against the rival would give Ball State the MAC championship for the second time in school history as it controls its own destiny in the conference.
The University of Toledo is one point behind the Cardinals in the MAC standings and would need a win and a Ball State loss to win the MAC.
"There's only two of 12 teams playing for a MAC championship tomorrow," Salmon said.
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