Ball State soccer had one great offensive possession to open its match against Indiana University (IU) Tuesday night.
And then they turned the ball over.
IU took advantage of this, capitalizing on a frazzled Cardinal team, and was able to maintain possession of the ball for the majority of the first half. After scoring one goal four minutes into the game, the Hoosiers scored another off of a corner kick just over two minutes later.
The Cardinals responded. Junior Addie Chester ran down the field and just missed the post off a diving kick. The team's next shot came twenty minutes later, followed by the first and only goal of the game for Ball State eight minutes after that.
Outside of the early offensive action, no other goals were scored in the game and Ball State suffered its first loss of the season.
“I think the response was really great. I mean … I'm not a big fan of moral victories, because we still have to own the loss, but I think that hopefully showed a lot to ourselves,” head coach Josh Rife said.
While Ball State started looking unsure of themselves, the team regained its footing and staples of last week's success remained present in the team's play, regardless of the game's outcome.
Defensively, the Cardinals reacted well in terms of spacing and countering the IU attack.
Sophomore Audrey Goodyear was very vocal on the backline, calling out instructions to her teammates while also seamlessly rotating into empty spots and eliminating offensive opportunities for her opponent.
Offensively, though they were less active on the box score, Ball States forwards made their mark and pressured the Hoosier's defense.
Regardless of the team's success on these two different parts of its play, this was a game of goalies.
While Ball State cycled through its bench, starting junior Grace Konopatski and subbing in senior Abby Jenkins at halftime, IU’s Jamie Gerstenberg remained in goal the whole match.
“I think the duo between us is just a force, honestly … she’s my best friend,” Jenkins said.
No matter who was there, each team relied on its goaltender to reignite its offense via goal kicks and numerous passes to allow for each team to regroup. Additionally, each Cardinal in goal made massive, game-changing saves. Without their performances, their team could have easily lost by a margin of at least four.
“I credit my team a lot. I think that we put a lot of emphasis on how we respond to things,” Jenkins said. “We keep our family and our grit and a lot of our core values on the line … everyone is supportive of each other, and we don't let goals kind of let us down.”
While freshman Ainsley Schaufele did not get the starting nod, she made a giant impact off of the bench after subbing into the game 20 minutes into the first half.
Both points of success on each side of the pitch for Ball State were emulated through Schaufele's play.
“I mean, the girls here are so supportive, every single one of them … our center backs, they just communicate with me and hype me up,” Schaufele said. “I just go out there and think, let's play for my team and do my best.”
She said the conversations held at halftime, ones that reiterated their team mentality, propelled the team to ensure that they would not allow another goal.
“Obviously [Indiana’s] a very fast-paced team. We talked about it at halftime, staying compact and just communicating with our back line and shifting together,” Schaufele said. “I thought in the second half and the end of the first half, we just all got back, got compact, played every ball, and were just communicating with each other, making sure everyone was marked.”
Rife said regrouping from today's loss, after having such confidence following their last victory, should be easy for his squad.
“We intentionally put this [game] break in [our schedule],” he said. “Now we can kind of catch our breath, recover from little knocks that you pick up, and you know, wear and tear that just naturally comes from a season. We can recoup … and start watching and preparing and making sure that we're as ready as we can be going into that game.”
Ball State soccer next plays Thursday, Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. against Butler University in Indianapolis. This is the team's first away game of the season.
Contact Trinity Rea via email at trinity.rea@bsu.edu or on X @thetrinityrea.
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