Ohio (9-1-4, 4-0-3 Mid-American Conference) traveled to Muncie, Indiana, to take on Ball State (7-5-2, 2-3-2 MAC) in a late-season matchup Sunday afternoon. Entering the match, Ohio had won its previous two matches, looking to extend its lossless streak to eleven games.
The Bobcats would succeed, taking the game in a 2-1 victory.
Ohio and Ball State most recently matched up in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals. The six-seeded Bobcats upset three-seeded Ball State to spark a run to the finals, where Ohio won the first MAC title in program history.
At the beginning of the match, the Ohio offense got a quick start with three shot attempts in the opening ten minutes, none finding the net.
In the 12th minute, the Ball State offense made a push where a shot attempt was made by midfielder Addie Chester, who corralled her missed shot and passed to forward Avery Fenchel, who put a shot past a diving Celeste Sloma to give Ball State an early 1-0 advantage.
After falling 1-0 early, Ohio only managed three shots for the rest of the period, with none on target against a stingy Ball State defense. The Ohio defense also tightened up, only allowing one shot after allowing the early goal.
Ohio managed to outshoot Ball State six-to-four through the first 45 minutes, but only one of those shots was saved by the Ball State goalkeeper, Grace Konopatzki.
At the beginning of the second half, the Ohio offense got a quick start with two early corner kick opportunities in the 48th minute. Later, in the 57th minute, Ohio forward Jaimason Brooker was found on a cutting pass from fellow forward Anna Burchett, and Brooker finally got a shot past the Ball State keeper to even the match at 1-1.
After finding the equalizing goal early in the second half, the Ohio offense maintained an aggressive position, managing two more shot attempts in the next four minutes, but both were off target.
In the 60th minute, Brooker found the ball in open space and pushed it toward the Ball State net, where she put another shot quickly past the arm of the Ball State keeper to extend Ohio’s lead to 2-1 and give Brooker two unanswered goals after falling 1-0 early.
As the second half winded down, the Ohio offense managed to maintain pressure on Ball State and allowed minimal opportunities for the Ball State offense to find a tying goal. Ohio outshot Ball State six to three after taking a 2-1 while Ball State picked up two yellow cards in the closing minutes.
When the final horn sounded, Ohio had secured a come-from-behind second-half victory over Ball State 2-1.
Ohio secured a third win in a row, extending its lossless streak to eleven. The win moved Ohio into first place in the MAC standings. Ohio holds a first-place tiebreaker against Western Michigan, earning that first-place spot, and remains undefeated in conference play.
The Bobcats will return home to take on Toledo on Thursday at 4 p.m., with coverage on ESPN+.
