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Ball State field hockey drops two games, fourth in MAC

Sophomore midfielder Anya Eicher tries to get the ball around a La Salle defender on Oct. 16 at Briner Sports Complex. Anya has played in all games, thus far. DN // Patrick Murphy
Sophomore midfielder Anya Eicher tries to get the ball around a La Salle defender on Oct. 16 at Briner Sports Complex. Anya has played in all games, thus far. DN // Patrick Murphy

Remaining MAC games:

Friday, Oct. 21 at Missouri State

Sunday, Oct. 23 vs. Miami

Friday, Oct. 28 at Central Michigan

With the season winding down, Ball State field hockey (6-9, 1-2 MAC) hoped its 2-1 win over Longwood (7-8, 1-3 MAC) Oct. 9 would catapult the team into a winning streak with two straight home games coming up next.

But after a 2-1 loss to Ohio (6-8, 3-1 MAC) Oct. 13 and a 3-1 loss to La Salle (7-7, 4-2 Atlantic 10) Oct. 16, the Cardinals are left wondering what could have been, and how to move on.

“We definitely missed opportunities to get wins that we needed,” said junior forward Abbey Main. “We were in it with those teams. Neither one of them was really better than us, we just didn’t put our best performances out on the field.”

Ball State entered the weekend with a similar record to its opponents and a chance to separate itself from the middle of the Mid-American Conference standings.

“We didn’t play our best at all, we’re a better team than what we showed,” said freshman midfielder Hillary Scott. “It’s tough but we just move forward. We know we’re not going to get every play or every call but we need to push into a positive direction together.”

The Cardinals have given up a penalty stroke their last two games. Main said the team needs to work on becoming more mentally sharp to avoid mistakes.

“We need to come into practice stronger,” Main said. “By coming full-hearted into practice and wanting to get better. We need to be more focused so we can bring the energy into the games.”

The top four teams in the MAC, which has seven field hockey teams, will make the conference tournament. Ball State currently stands at fourth in the center of the MAC standings at 1-2, but are only a half-game ahead of Longwood and Missouri State (2-9, 1-3 MAC).

The Cardinals own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Longwood, and their next game at Missouri State Oct. 21 could decide which team gets the fourth spot in the tournament.

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