MUNCIE – Lead referee Jan Stanke blew her whistle to call for the clock to stop at the exact same moment that the scoreboard read 0:00 and the horn blew. Or maybe Stanke blew her whistle a second before, because her call stood.
Saint Francis was awarded a corner kick with no time remaining. It was one last chance at breaking the 2-2 tie that was forced with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
This final corner kick was in double overtime, therefore a missed or blocked shot would send the match to a shootout. Ball State graduate student goalkeeper Hannah Johnston did the same thing she does on every corner kick or penalty shot – used her stick to tap the right corner of the cage, the top of the cage and the back of the cage.
Johnston said her ritual is more to help her teammates focus than anything, Saint Francis junior midfielder Madison Waldspurger’s shot slithered past Johnston and the other three Cardinal defenders standing in the box with her.
“I was lined up for the direct shot on the goal, and they had one of their trailing players come in, and got a nice little tap right in front of me,” Johnston said. “It went past me. It didn't quite hit me.”
As Saint Francis loudly celebrated its 3-2 win in the opening contest of the season, Ball State’s roster quietly shuffled off the pitch. There were groans from Cardinal fans when Stanke made the call for a last-second corner kick, but head coach Caitlin Walsh had little dispute about whether Stanke’s call was fair or foul.
"There's a reason why I'm not an umpire,” Walsh said. “As a coach and as a team, we gotta take the call and figure out a way to defend it."
Johnston hustled toward Ball State’s small locker room to climb out of her goalie gear, partly to help cool down from the 93 degree Fahrenheit heat, but partly to rejoin her teammates as quickly as possible. Once she did, she received encouragement from both players and staff.
Walsh wasn’t frustrated with Johnston letting three goals get past her and the Cardinal defense, in fact, she predicted the Virginia native to finish the season with an All-MAC (Mid-American Conference) selection.
Johnston did save six of the Red Flashes’ 12 shots (nine on goal), but Saint Francis sophomore goalkeeper Mia DiGenova finished with 19 saves on Ball State’s 24 shots – 23 of which were on goal.
Not only is 19 likely to be one of the highest single-game save totals of the season in the NCAA, but what makes DiGenova’s day even more impressive is that it was her third collegiate start. Johnston’s career single-game high is 20, for instance.
“You'll see a lot of keepers getting six-10 saves max, but season highs for goalkeepers is always like 15, maybe 17,” Johnston said. “Getting above that is insane.”
Walsh didn’t believe DiGenova’s standout day was an indictment of poor offense from Ball State, instead she was pleased with so many of the Cardinals’ shots hitting the cage or the goalkeeper’s pads. Junior midfielder Emma van Hal ensured two of her six shots hit the back of the cage, accounting for both of Ball State’s points.
Each of these goals came via a corner kick, in which Ball State earned 10 more attempts than Saint Francis. That was by design, Walsh said, as was Hal’s aggressive approach on offense.
The Wageningen, Netherlands, native’s two scores against Saint Francis were her first goals of her collegiate career.
“She stepped up, but she honestly hasn’t changed her game at all,” Walsh said. “She’s always had an attacking mindset, but she’s getting more confidence.”
Graduate student forward/midfielder Rachel Bohn earned the only Ball State assist, whereas Waldspurger accounted for the lone Red Flash assist. That assist set up sophomore forward Consu de Castro, who scored the two regulation goals for the Red Flashes, including one with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth period.
Johnston felt good about the way she played, and she felt good about the way Ball State played as a whole. While she never likes to lose – no athlete does – she was already putting the defeat in perspective less than three hours after the loss.
It was the first of 17 guaranteed games in Johnston’s senior season. If a loss that took 20 extra minutes to complete is considered a low point, she feels confident about the Cardinals’ ceiling.
And she is impressing this same mentality on her 23 teammates.
“I think I have the easiest job, because I just have to stand there and hope the ball hits me, but I'm always trying to make sure that my teammates are in the right mindset,” Johnston said. “It’s all about keeping each other lifted up.”
The Cardinals return to action at Noon Sunday, Sept. 1 when they square off against Stanford at Briner Sports Complex in Muncie.
Contact Kyle Smedley via email at kmsmedley213@gmail.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.
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