Windy conditions the last two games haven't cost the Ball State soccer team any wins or changed the way it plays.
In fact, coach Craig Roberts said he thinks the ball-to-feet style the team uses actually gives them an advantage in bad weather. That was proven on Sunday.
"We've got a variety of players that have speed," Roberts said. "So we work very hard to move off the ball so we can play through the wind. We've been handling the pressure of players serving long balls in [to the box]. With our heading ability, we've been able to deal with that type of stuff."
Victoria Jacobs was the recipient of one such ball in Sunday's game at Bowling Green. The freshman defender ran onto the end of a cross from junior co-captain Skylar Chew and buried a header into the back of the net for a 1-0 advantage.
In the at the 32-minute mark, junior forward Maggie Brown added her third goal of the season to round out the scoring for the team. Ball State went on to win 2-0 and notch its third straight win in Mid-American Conference play. The team also beat Miami 2-1 on Friday.
Roberts said against Bowling Green, Ball State tried to key in on Bowling Green senior forward Alyssa Zuccaro. She leads the Falcons in scoring and is ninth in the MAC with four goals of the season.
The Cardinals were able to hold Zuccaro to one shot.
Roberts said one player in particular, sophomore midfielder Kelsey Shapiro, really impacted the game.
"[Zuccaro] is a very good player," Roberts said. "But Kelsey came in the second half and basically shut her down. She came in and really helped us close their whole team down."
Earlier in the week, Roberts talked about shifting around different players in the back-end of midfield, who would win balls and control the game.
Junior midfielder Alyssa Ables was another second half substitution Roberts said filled that role for his team and helped change the game.
"Alyssa came in and really composed the midfield," he said. "She slowed the game down a little bit more and connected passes. I think the upperclassman's ability and experience started to shine through."
Since Toledo won its games over the weekend, Ball State maintained its hold on second place in the MAC West Division. Looking at results across the board in the conference, Roberts said he likes where his team is at as the players continue their progression.
"I think we're showing that we are very competitive this season," he said. "We're not getting overly excited with ourselves and are staying level headed. My intention with this program is to keep us heading in the right direction. We are obviously heading in that direction and we just need to keep on performing to the best of our ability."
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