This weekend, Ball State Soccer (2-1, 0-0 MAC) travels down south for their final two-game weekend against College of Charleston (2-2, 0-0 CAA) and Charleston Southern (1-0-1, 0-0 Big South).

The Cardinals evened out last weekend with a 1-0 loss against Eastern Kentucky and a 1-0 win against Morehead State. With another week of practices under their belt, the Cardinals know what they need to fix and how they can better their game. 

Head coach Craig Roberts encourages scheduling games that are out of region to give the team an educational experience. Prior seasons, the Cardinals faced TCU, Baylor, California State Northridge and Loyola Marymount. 

“We feel really good for the opportunity to take a trip down there, so I think it will be an experience with a lot of different things when we go down to Charleston,” Roberts said. “Obviously we are going to play some very strong soccer against some out of region opposition, which is the purpose of the trip. I am also excited about the opportunities education-wise the girls will get and enhance their out of soccer experiences that are out there as well.”

Not only will this be an educational and learning experience for the team, but it will also be a test to show how they have improved over the week in preparation for these games in a new climate. Freshman Emily Simmons is gearing up to experience first-hand what it is going to be like playing in a different environment. Game time temperature is forecasted to be a warm 86 degrees with 66 percent humidity. 

“I think heat is going to be a factor,” Simmons said “Physically, it is going to be tough, but we just have to push through it. It’s just as hot for everyone else.” 

With the season going into only its third week, the team believes that they have made a lot of improvements since then. Heading into these next two matchups, the Cardinals are ready to show they are a different team than they were at the beginning of the season. 

“We’ve come a long way and I think we will do really well this weekend,” Freshman Kennedy Metzger said. “We had two previous games where in the first one we didn’t get the result we wanted, but I think we’ve been building on what we’re learning in practice. In these upcoming games, we can really show what we’ve improved on and really put it out there.”

The Cardinals will face the Cougars on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Buccaneers on Sunday at 1 p.m. 

Contact Olivia Adams with comments at omadams@bsu.edu or on Twitter @olivia_adams5

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