This Friday, Ball State Soccer (3-1-1, 0-0 MAC) will kick off their first regular season home game along with celebrating senior night against the Omaha Mavericks (2-4-1, 0-0 Summit).
Senior night will be one to remember as the graduating seniors get to run onto the field and meet their loved ones at the halfway line. They will get to stand out there for the National Anthem with each other and take a big group picture. However, after that, it’s down to business.
“The intentions will be to recognize the seniors, so we will definitely recognize them at the start of the game and then the girls will tackle this game as if it is any other game,” Head coach Craig Roberts said. “We are going to try and allow the seniors to get on for the game, but its business at the end of the day. We still have to make sure we tackle the game as if it’s a regular game.”
Last weekend, the Cardinals struggled in capitalizing on opportunities and take shots on net. This week, Roberts has been working with the team on shot selection, taking shots around the 18 and getting comfortable for this upcoming game.
With the Cardinals being at home for the first time in almost a month, the Cardinals are on the good side with the crowd in cheering them on.
“I think they are very excited with not being on the road,” Roberts said. “We’ve had a lot of challenges on the road with endless weather conditions and dilemmas we’ve faced. So it will be a good week back in Muncie where girls can sleep in their own beds. They will be calmer and more collected and obviously having a larger fan base that is for us and not against us will give them motivation.”
The Mavericks come into this match riding a two game win streak with wins over Green Bay, 1-0, and Southern Utah, 1-0. The Mavericks also have a double overtime loss to Arkansas State as the Cardinals do to Western Illinois.
The Cardinals will face the Mavericks on Friday at 5 p.m. at Briner Sports Complex.
Contact Olivia Adams with any comments at omadams@bsu.edu or on Twitter @olivia_adams5.
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