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Off a Ball State corner kick, Ohio's sophomore goalkeeper Mattie Liston overextended on a punch attempt and missed. It was one of the few times she was out of position all day.
The ball deflected off a defender to Ball State's freshman forward Hannah Chadick. She hit the ball at a seemingly open goal, only to be blocked by a defender's foot.
Even when the Cardinals beat their defender and got chances on goal, Liston or bad luck would get in the way. Despite outshooting Ohio 40-18 in Sunday's game, Ball State came away with a 1-1 tie after two overtimes.
Liston made her 11 saves seem like 40 in the game and her performance didn't go unnoticed. Cardinals' coach Craig Roberts said she had a big impact in the result.
"I think she made some very good saves," Roberts said. "I think by the time the game finished, we dominated. We need to make sure we're consistent with taking our opportunities, but the goalkeeper did very well to keep us out."
In the eighth minute, Ohio's junior forward Erin Schwenke beat her defender down the right sideline and crossed the ball to a wide open Kelsey Pichel. The senior midfielder deposited her shot in the upper right corner of goal for a 1-0 lead.
For the second straight game, Ball State came out flat and set up a comeback scenario. Junior forward Shaniece Thorpe said the team is making the mistake of feeling out its opponents to start off games.
"For some reason, the last couple of games, we've been doing that [starting off slow]," Thorpe said. "Our coach keeps telling us to go out there as hard as possible. I guess we're just seeing what they're like before we actually go at them. That is wrong to do. We need to go at them with a high expectation of what they're like and not relax."
Thorpe said a stern halftime talk from Roberts turned the team's mindset around. Roberts aimed specific comments at Thorpe which really energized her the rest of the game, she said.
"He said I need to start being a little more selfish," Thorpe said. "I need to stop when I get into the attacking third and take it to them. But I keep on passing when I should be taking the shot. He drilled that directly at me, it seemed like, during halftime. It hit me right there and then that our team was about to go down at our home field. I went back out there with the mentality of doing whatever I could to get us back up and into the game."
Thorpe did just that.
Barely two minutes removed from halftime, Thorpe used her speed to make a run through midfield that broke down Ohio's defense. She and freshman forward Jasmine Moses put a few passes together that opened up a shot for Moses from 10 yards out. She scored and tied the game 1-1.
The Cardinals controlled the ball and threatened continuously the rest of the game, but it wasn't enough to secure a win.
Just as Roberts was quick to get on Thorpe at halftime, he was quicker to praise her play after the game.
"We laid things out pretty harshly about what we required from players and our expectations," Roberts said. "One of the players that changed the game dramatically was Shaniece Thorpe. I just know that she's a quality player and she can tear teams apart. I didn't feel that she was performing to the best of her ability in the first half. But she showed us what she really could do [in the second half]. ... When she lets loose, she can control and win games all the way through."
Ball State couldn't win Sunday's game, but did end the weekend with a 1-0-1 record after beating Akron on Friday. The team maintained its second best record in the MAC, at 4-1-1 (9-4-2 overall), with the results.
Ohio entered Sunday's game as the top team in the MAC East Division. Roberts said he was pleased with how his team measured up to the competition.
"I felt like we outplayed them," he said. "I felt like we dominated defensively, in midfield and with our offense. Their keeper had an outstanding game with the saves that she made. We just need to convert those opportunities if we meet again.
"We're just gaining confidence and people continue to strive and get better."
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