Alyssa Heintschel now sits in the Ball State record books as the goalkeeper with the most victories in school history as she recorded the 35th win of her career as Ball State beat Miami 1-0 on Thursday.
Senior midfielder Lucy Walton’s goal in the 16th minute proved to be the deciding factor of the game. After a couple of shots were deflected around in the box, the ball found Walton who sent it into the empty net for her first goal of the season. Junior midfielder Amanda Shaw was credited with an assist on the play, her second of the season.
“The goal that Lucy scored was a good finish,” head coach Craig Roberts said. “We were a little unfortunate not to get a second or third, we created the chances but we’ll take the 1-0 win.”
Although it only netted the one goal, Ball State’s offense was on the attack for most of the afternoon, finishing with a 19-9 shot advantage in the victory and holding a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks.
“We were very consistent, we didn’t allow Miami to really test us in any way,” Roberts said. “I was really pleased with the way the defense played, definitely a commitment to get the win.”
Heintschel wasn’t tested a lot, finishing her record-setting day with three saves as the Ball State defense put together another strong afternoon on the field.
“The defense has been a lot more disciplined and has communicated a lot more effectively,” Roberts said. “Evie [Stepaniak] was a lot stronger going forward, she was a major threat coming out of the back. Sam Mattlin did a tremendous job dealing with one of their top players, [Kat Zalar], she did a really good job of denying her the ball.”
Ball State needed Kent State to lose or draw against Ohio Thursday to capture a third straight regular season Mid-American Conference championship, but it didn’t happen.
Kent State won 2-1, meaning Ball State will host the first round of the MAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed Sunday at 1 p.m against 7-seed Northern Illinois.
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