Ball State Soccer celebrates Breast Cancer Awareness Month every season by hosting a “pink-out” game in October.
Today, the Cardinal's second-to-last home game of the year, players and fans showed up in pink attire, acknowledging the importance of awareness before the game.
“It’s something much bigger than soccer,” Ball State head coach Josh Rife said. “To try and keep that in perspective is super important.”
Despite the high spirits and aggressive play, Ball State's efforts to earn a winning record in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play fell short.
Headed into the half with a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from fifth-year Avery Fenchel off an assist from junior Addie Chester, Ball State looked confident on the field.
The Cardinals came out in a 3-6-1 formation, aiming to increase scoring production Rife said. While his team did produce, scoring a goal in the first half, defensively, his team was overwhelmed with pressure.
Fifth-year Jordan Jeffers and senior Maya Millis played well on the wings, but the Bobcat's attack turned into pinching and directing its approach to the middle of the field. Junior Delaney Ahearn said this pressure on her and fellow center-back sophomore Audrey Goodyear was something they just had to play through.
“We really just had a game plan of staying matched up, keeping our marks, keeping the ball in front of us,” Ahearn said. “It was really important for me and [Audrey] to roll up when needed to and stay with our marks.”
Ahearn has been a key member of the Cardinal squad this season, transferring from Mississippi State and starting every game this season.
Regardless of their collective efforts, the Ball State backline was unable to stop Ohio.
A goal 12 minutes into the second half evened the game at 1-1. Less than fifteen minutes after that, Ohio scored again to take the lead and Ball State was unable to answer.
Ohio is now tied for first place in the MAC after its win today.
“We just need to stay connected. There [are] moments where things fall apart and we become disorganized so it’s important for us to stay positive and communicate with each other,” Ahearn said. “I don’t think we’re in a bad place.”
Rife said his game plan was to “make it difficult” for visiting Ohio. He said even though his team did not get the outcome that he wanted, due to “two moments defensively,” their performance as a whole was good
Moving forward, Rife acknowledged that his team has enough depth to succeed, but that “good teams make you pay.”
Ball State next plays on the road to face Miami (OH) Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.
Contact Trinity Rea via email at trinity.rea@bsu.edu or on X @thetrinityrea.
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