Editor’s note: The Ball State Daily News reached out for interviews with head coach Caitlin Walsh and student-athletes Sept. 13-15 but did not receive a response.

Ball State had something to prove while on last week’s road trip.

Emma Hilton, one of Ball State field hockey’s five fifth-year seniors, expressed a hint of optimism Sunday, Sept. 1 amidst the disappointment surrounding the Cardinals first two matches of the season.

Both were losses; the first a 3-2 defeat in double overtime and the second a 5-0 shutout against the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)’s Stanford (4-1).

Although Hilton and head coach Caitlin Walsh both thought the Cardinals did not play to the best of their ability in their first two matches of the season, they did recognize the importance of keeping the season’s length in perspective. At that point, Ball State still had 15 guaranteed matches left and had signs pointing towards hope despite the losses.

Junior Emma van Hal scored the first two goals of her career against Saint Francis (4-2) and the Cardinals’ defense should be bolstered in the near future when 2023 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Defensive Player of the Year Michaela Graney returns from her broken right pinky finger injury.

And those signs of hope only grew when Ball State defeated the Saint Louis Billikens (0-4) in the first of two road matches from Wednesday, Sept. 11 to Friday, Sept. 13. It looked like the Cardinals were destined to experience more of the same early season disappointment when Saint Louis senior Josefina Perez scored a goal within the first 40 seconds of play Wednesday afternoon.

Ball State’s offense finally found its footing shortly after, attempting nine shots in the first period alone. Though none of those found the back of the cage, the fifth-year duo of Emma Hilton and Paloma Gomez Rengifo scored their first goals of the season in the third and fourth period. The Cardinals led 2-1 with less than 10 minutes remaining, but the Billikens' put together five shots in the fourth period only for Perez to score her second goal of the game as time expired to force overtime.

Within the first five minutes of overtime, Emma van Hal nailed the match-winning goal to give Ball State its first taste of victory in 2024 with a 3-2 win.

It would be naive to think the Cardinals weren’t riding high Wednesday despite a Big Ten opponent looming in less than 48 hours time. Besides, Ball State defeated Indiana last season in an overtime shootout thanks to Hilton’s heroics.

At the end of the first period in Ball State’s rematch against Indiana Friday, the Cardinals had more shot attempts than the Hoosiers. Even without Graney, Ball State’s defense did not allow a single shot in the first 15 minutes of play in Bloomington.

However, between the second and third period, Indiana flipped the script and prevented the Cardinals from attempting any shots while the Hoosiers earned 15 tries. One of those tries was successful when Sydney Keld found the back of the cage in the third period to put Indiana ahead 1-0.

About 18 minutes later with just 10 minutes left to play, the Hoosiers added to their lead with Maggie Carter’s first goal of the season. Even though Ball State earned two more shots in the fourth period, Indiana’s defense shutout Muncie’s finest.

Despite letting up two scores, the Cardinals’ fifth-year goalkeeper Hannah Johnston compiled 13 saves against a Big Ten offense.

So yes, Ball State heads into its first conference game this Friday sitting at 1-3, but there seems to be a lot of positives to build on. Not only did the Cardinals bounce back from a rough first week with a win, but their 2-0 loss to Indiana (2-3) was not as lopsided as the score may suggest.

The Cardinals open MAC competition Friday with a 2 p.m. match against Kent State (0-6) in Ohio. The Golden Flashes beat Ball State 4-2 last season.

Contact Kyle Smedley with comments via email at kmsmedley213@gmail.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.

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