The atmosphere after Ball State field hockey's loss Sunday afternoon was much different than it was after the Cardinals loss 48 hours earlier.
When Ball State opened up its season against Saint Francis with a 3-2 loss in double overtime, graduate student goalkeeper Hannah Johnston said she was unhappy with the outcome but satisfied with how the Cardinals played. Her tone of voice was not indicative of someone who felt particularly frustrated.
That was not the case Sunday afternoon for graduate student midfielder Emma Hilton after Ball State lost 5-0 to Stanford.
It wasn't as if Hilton was complaining, far from it, but it's safe to say she didn't envision losing the first two matches of her fifth season in Muncie by a combined score of 8-2. The cherry on top? Both matches were at Briner Sports Complex – the Cardinals' home turf.
It was a dominant performance by Stanford, scoring goals in every period but the second, but the new Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) member's strong offensive attack was not something that caught Ball State head coach Caitlin Walsh off guard.
"We knew the pace of the game was going to be high, so we were just wanting to set the tone ourselves and play Ball State field hockey," Walsh said.
That objective did not come to fruition though, as Stanford dominated nearly all 60 minutes of play, particularly on the defensive end. The Cardinals not only scored two goals in their previous contest, but they managed 24 total shots. Sunday, Ball State only earned two.
Both shots came from junior midfielder Emma van Hal, who scored each goal Friday. Stanford's offense was a more diverse attack, with all five goals coming from different players. These five goals came on 19 total shots, eight of which Johnston saved.
Ball State has been without 2023 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Defensive Player of the Year Michaela Graney (broken right pinky finger) to start the season, and Walsh said she did not have an update on Graney's progress. While having Graney on the pitch certainly would make the Cardinals stronger, her absence cannot be the sole reason for Ball State's 0-2 start.
Ball State's offensive and defensive struggles on Sunday in particular can be boiled down to one thing for both Hilton and Walsh.
"I don't think that we were necessarily locked in for the entirety of [the match]," Walsh said. "We were prepared for them, but I don't think that we executed what we needed to."
The Cardinals have now lost two straight contests to Power-5 opponents and three straight non-conference games. And still, Walsh is happy with the lofty competition Ball State has on its schedule every season.
"We play out of conference games for a reason, and of course, you want to play good teams," Walsh said. "It's good for us, and it shows us things that we need to work on."
This loss to Stanford was Ball State's largest margin of defeat since a 7-0 loss to Miami (OH) Oct. 28, 2022. Hilton remembers a more recent setback that lit a fire under the Cardinals, a 1-0 loss to Mid-American Conference (MAC) rival Appalachian State Oct. 20, 2023.
It was Hilton and eight other Cardinals' senior day, and at that time she still hadn't made it known that she would be returning to the Cardinals for a fifth season. Though the margin of defeat wasn't nearly as wide as Sunday's Hilton remembers using the frustration that came with the loss as fuel toward a 7-0 route of Queens University two days later.
Her tone of voice quickly changed from frustrated to determined.
"It's early," Hilton said. "It's a good chance for us to turn around and show everyone else what we're made of."
The Cardinals return to the pitch Sunday, Sept. 8 with their first road contest of the season against Saint Louis at Noon CT.
Contact Kyle Smedley via email at kmsmedley213@gmail.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.
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