When this season's batch of freshmen joined the Ball State soccer team, the old and the new meshed immediately in the locker room.
Last weekend's results in the Northern Arizona High Altitude Tournament suggest that the team is starting to find itself on the field.
Ball State scored a season-high five goals against Lamar and went 1-0-1 on the weekend. The offense started to show promise and created double-digit scoring chances in both games.
"The team is starting to get it, to understand [the offense]," coach Craig Roberts said. "We're really driving offensively to make sure we're incorporating a lot more in practices to have finishing drills with that. I think a change in approach to what we had has been a lot more productive for us."
Coaches and players are hoping the new-found scoring touch will carry over to Friday's game against Marshall. It is the team's first home game in almost a month.
From the opening game, Roberts showed he wasn't scared to put youth on the field. Seven freshman started at least one game this season and two of those, Pavla Benyrova and Hannah Chadick, started every game for the Cardinals.
It seems like no coincidence Ball State has started to see better results up front out of Chadick and freshman Jasmine Moses the more comfortable they have become on the field.
"The freshman have obviously raised their game — they were the people who picked it up at the right time," Roberts said.
Chadick said there was a bit of an adjustment period, but the freshmen are starting to find their niche in the college game.
"The speed of play is quicker and the game is more physical," Chadick said. "I think all the freshmen as a whole, we've worked on it and gotten used to how fast things are working. I think we're getting there."
Although the freshmen on Ball State have made significant impacts this season, Roberts decided to make Friday's game against Marshall all about his older players. Roberts designated the game Senior Day.
When asked why he chose to do Senior Day so early, Roberts said he wanted to take the pressure off his team and all the older players on such an important day.
"I wanted to do Senior Day prior to conference play," Roberts said. "Sometimes I feel that the interference of emotion and the time to do that during a conference game is a bit of a distraction for us. I wanted to make sure we gave our seniors the attention that's needed."
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