Central Michigan University
Ball State
Chippewas Grind Out Tie With Ball State
10/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - See you in November?
Quite possibly, though Central Michigan soccer coach Peter McGahey is hardly ready to look that far down the line.
McGahey's Chippewas played Ball State to a 0-0 tie Sunday in a Mid-American Conference match at the CMU Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium, two days after the Chippewas beat Miami (Ohio), 1-0, in double overtime at home.
CMU is 10-1-1, 2-1-1 MAC. Ball State, the defending MAC regular-season champion, is 8-2-2, 3-0-1. The Cardinals, with 10 points, lead the MAC West. They were picked to win the West in the preseason coaches poll. Ball State, CMU and Kent State each received three votes as the preseason favorite to win the conference tournament.
The Chippewas and Northern Illinois are tied for second with seven points each. Ball State entered the weekend with an RPI of 55, second in the MAC behind the Chippewas (48).
"There so much soccer left," McGahey said. "You don't want to be playing your best soccer on Oct. 1, you want to be playing it on Nov. 1. We've got a lot of growth and evolution as a team. I believe in our student-athletes and I certainly look forward to that."
The Chippewas matched the Cardinals' intensity and physicality, a key component, McGahey said, in their ability to forge the tie on Sunday, and in the resurgence of the program.
"Ball State historically is a team that comes out with good aggression and really some high energy and I thought we were able to match that competitive spirit," McGahey said. "In the MAC you always have to earn it. There's no gimmies. Really proud of the performance today, really proud of their effort, their grittiness to come back from an overtime game on Friday night.
"You may not get the result you want exactly, but the reality is we played 215 minutes of soccer this weekend and didn't concede a goal. I think that there are a lot of positives that you take away from today."
CMU goalkeeper Kristen Knutson made two saves for her sixth shutout of the season. Alyssa Heintschel made three saves in goal for Ball State.
The Cardinals held a 9-7 edge in shots. CMU finished with a 3-2 advantage in shots on goal. Each team had one corner kick.
"If you look at where Ball State is, where they have been historically they're one of the top teams in the conference," McGahey said. "They typically are this time of year in that top 65, top 70 in RPI ranking. Again I think it's not the result that we wanted today, but I think it was the performance that we had to have."
CMU's Alexis Pelafas, who scored her 11th goal of the season in Friday's win over Miami, was limited to two shots - neither of which was on goal - as the Cardinals locked down on one of the nation's top goal-scorers.
"Hats off to Ball State in terms of their game plan and I think that they have some very good student-athletes at the back that made Lexi's life difficult," McGahey said. "I thought we were able to maintain our composure and sort of try to grind of some stuff out. And I would say they're probably saying the same thing about today."
The Chippewas were again without senior mid Samantha Maher because of injury, and took a blow in the 57th minute when senior defender Taylor Potts, a critical component, left the game with an injury and did not return.
"The depth, and we've talked about it all season, was really good this weekend," McGahey said. "The Taylor Potts injury, and I still don't know what the severity of that injury is - she's a huge emotional leader for us.
"My hat's off to Christie (Chiesa) to come in and respond and really settle the team down. My heart is breaking for Potts, but my hat goes off to Christie because I thought she really put in a good performance in the second half and in overtime."
The Chippewas go to Toledo on Thursday, Oct. 6, and to Bowling Green on Sunday, Oct. 9. Both are MAC games.
