Editor’s Note: The Daily News reached out to Ball State Field Hockey for post-match comments Sunday, Oct 20, with no response.
This weekend was full of standout personal moments for members of the Ball State field hockey program, but back-to-back losses in North Carolina cast a gloomy cloud over them.
The Cardinals came into their weekend road trip feeling confident, even if their last match was a 4-0 loss to then No. 5 Michigan.
Head coach Caitlin Walsh, graduate student goalkeeper Hannah Johnston and junior Emma van Hal all said last Sunday that heading into halftime only trailing by one against the Wolverines showed the Ball State locker room what it was capable of.
In fact, the Cardinals even entered Friday’s match against App State sitting in fourth place in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). However, the Mountaineers showed why they are just one game behind first place James Madison when they handled Ball State 3-1.
App State is now 8-6 with a 5-1 MAC record, good for second in the conference.
Ball State only earned three shots against the Mountaineers, with sophomore Julia Verratti and junior Christine Ditizio getting in on the limited offensive action alongside junior Maddie Summitt, who scored the first goal of her collegiate career Friday.
App State got its scoring attack underway quickly, putting the Cardinals in a 2-0 deficit after the first period. Despite Summitt closing the 2-0 gap with her second period goal, Mountaineers junior Bridget Donovan scored in the fourth period to officially sink Ball State.
After an off day spent in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Cardinals looked to bounce back from two consecutive losses with an 11 a.m. match against Queens. The Royals were coming off a win against Wingate, but they had lost their previous 11 matches.
While Summitt started 13 games for Ball State last season, she forayed her Friday goal into her first start of the season Sunday.
Jenna Wyckoff scored her second goal of the season Sunday off the bench. It’s been an up and down season for the senior, who has started seven of 13 matches after starting all but one last year.
However, Wyckoff’s two goals this season have been the only two of her collegiate career.
Paloma Gómez Rengifo’s second period goal against Queens may have meant even more, however. It was the fifth-year’s second goal of the season, and her first since Sept. 11.
Rengifo has started 10 of 13 matches for Ball State this year after starting all 18 last season, due in large part to help her recover from an offseason meniscus surgery.
The Cardinals led 2-0 at halftime, and even prevented Queens from earning a shot through the first 38 minutes of play. However, the Royals took advantage of their first opportunity late in the third period when freshman Maddie Just scored to put Queens within one point of Ball State.
It seemed like the Cardinals would be able to hold off the surging second half Royals and escape with a 2-1 victory, but junior Sydney Smith scored her first goal of the season with less than seven minutes remaining.
The 2-2 match went to overtime, and just before the 70-minute mark, Smith once again hit the back of the cage after a corner shot to defeat Ball State 3-2.
After this two-loss weekend road trip, Ball State now sits at fifth in the MAC with a 2-3 conference record (3-10 overall). The Cardinals have three MAC contests to go, and two of them are against teams in which Ball State is tightly contested against in the standings.
The first is Ohio Friday, Oct. 25. The Bobcats sit one spot below Ball State in the conference standings with a 2-4 conference record (5-9 overall). Then the Cardinals face James Madison, the top team in the MAC with a 5-0 conference record (11-4 overall) on senior night Sunday, Oct. 27.
In its final regular season game, Ball State travels to Louisville, Kentucky, to face Bellarmine, the eighth place team in the MAC with a 1-5 record (3-11 overall).
Before their three straight conference matches to close the regular season, the Cardinals return to Muncie for a Tuesday, Oct. 22 match against UC Davis (2-10) at Noon ET. Both squads look to snap losing streaks, as the Aggies have dropped nine in a row compared to the Cardinals’ three straight defeats.
Contact Kyle Smedley via email at kmsmedley213@gmail.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.
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