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CHARLESTON, Ill. –
Kathleen Hayes provided the offense with a goal on a fantastic individual effort and the Panther defense held strong against a relentless Ball State attack, as Eastern Illinois women's soccer opened a three-game homestand with 1-0 victory Friday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
The shutout was the Panthers' second at home this season, extending their consecutive scoreless minutes streak at Lakeside Field to 790 dating back to last year.
Hayes scored her first goal since her sophomore campaign in the 10th minute off a double assist from
Lindsey Wilkening and
Rachel Hamilton. Wilkening played a ball into the attacking zone from midfield where Hamilton flicked it to her senior teammate in the center of the field. Hayes gained control and delivered a beautiful rising strike into the top right corner of the goal from about 18 yards out.
“We've been working with [Hayes] on taking advantage of situations like that all season,” EIU head coach
Tim Nowak said. “It takes some time, but it's nice to see that work pay off. It was good to see her score because everybody cheers her on and she does such a tremendous amount of work for us, to see her get rewarded statistically was nice.”
Ball State's shoot first offensive philosophy resulted in a 22-5 shot advantage for the Cardinals, who are the defending Mid-American Conference regular-season champs. However, BSU only put seven of those 22 opportunities on goal and
Jenny Williams was in position to stop them all. Her top save came in the 58th minute when she dove to her left to stop a blast from Sarah Leibel.
“We knew exactly what was going to happen, everybody does their homework before games,” Nowak said. “We knew they were going to put numbers forward and take a lot of shots. They didn't do anything that we didn't expect and I'm sure we didn't do anything they didn't expect. We have a disciplined team and when they stay disciplined, we can defend well against any kind of situation.”
While the backline was stacked with upperclassmen the entire match, Nowak went to his bench to fill out the remaining six field positions in the game's final minutes. Underclassmen
Sarah Rusk,
Angela Ziemba,
Danielle Flynn and
Laura Ridolfi all found themselves on the field during Ball State's final offensive push. Rusk ended up playing 58 minutes, tops among the bench personnel.
“Every single player has been training incredibly well the last week,” Nowak said. “We've been practicing hard. The players are setting the standard and they've tried to raise it everyday. Because of that, we had everybody chomping at the bit ready. So I was confident about putting people in different spots, knowing they would do what they had to do to win.”
Along with Williams' great save on Leibel, Ball State's other top chances to tie the game also came in the second half.
In the 71st minute Megan Ridley missed right from the far post after collecting a cross. Five minutes later the Cardinals tried to catch EIU knapping and went with a quick start on a free kick. Leibel found herself unmarked along the left flank but missed high with a strike from just inside the 18-yard box.
The Cardinals' final opportunity to tie the score came with 2:20 remaining in the contest. Williams, however, was in great position to smother a point blank shot from Bailey Decker.
Hayes' goal was the sixth of her career, as well as her third game-winner as a Panther. Hamilton leads EIU with three assists this season and has recorded a point in four of the first five games. Wilkening's helper, finally, was her first of the season and third career. She also extended her team-high consecutive minutes played streak to 450.
The loss was Ball State's first in a true road game since Sept. 1, 2006 at Northern Arizona. Friday's game also marked the first meeting between the two schools.
The Panthers return to action Sunday when they host Western Kentucky at 1 p.m.
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