Kent State University
Ball State University
Soccer Blanked by Ball State, 3-0
10/9/2015 7:21:00 PM | Women's Soccer
MUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State scored three goals in a span of nine minutes late in the second period to defeat the Kent State women's soccer team 3-0 at Briner Sports Complex on Friday evening. With the win, Ball State improved to 9-2-2 overall with an unblemished 5-0 mark in Mid-American Conference play, while the Golden Flashes dropped to 7-4-2 with a 3-2 mark in the MAC.
The Cardinals, who are currently sitting in first place in the MAC standings, also lead the league in both shots and corner kicks.  Today, Ball State boasted a 20-4 advantage in shots over the Golden Flashes, and won the corner kick battle, 6-2.
Despite Ball State's 10-1 advantage in shots, and Kent State playing without key rookie defender Paige Culver, the Golden Flashes defense was stingy and kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard in the first half. Freshman goalkeeper Ashleah McDonald (Langley, British Columbia), who ended the night with a career-high 11 saves in net, tallied seven in just the first period.
The Golden Flashes had a nice look just 14 minutes into the game when sophomore Kristen Brots (Naperville, Ill.) served a free kick into senior Madison Helterbran (North Canton, Ohio). Helterbran headed the ball toward the goal but Ball State goalkeeper Alyssa Heintschel made a diving save to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0.
In the second half, the Golden Flashes had a few more good looks on the Ball State goal, but shots went either wide or high. Ball State out-shot Kent State 10-3 in the final 45 minutes and had a 4-0 advantage in corner kicks.Â
It wasn't until the 74th minute when Ball State would tally its first score, when Chelsy Swackhamer got a pass from Kelcy Fiser and put one in past McDonald to the right post to take a 1-0 lead.
In the 79th minute, Abigail Boswell added a goal when she fired one in from the top of the box, and tacked on another in the 83rd minute when she beat McDonald to the right side of net to increase the Cardinals lead to 3-0.
McDonald received the loss in net for the Flashes' and drops to 7-3-1 on the year. Heintschel improved to 9-2-2 and earned one save in today's game.
Kent State was not only playing without a key defender, but also its leading scorer, Jenna Hellstrom (Sudbury, Ontario). Hellstrom will be back in the lineup for Kent State's game vs. Miami at 1 p.m on Sunday in Oxford.
