No. 20 MSU field hockey (7-6 overall , 2-3 Big Ten ) will head back to East Lansing with a bitter taste in its mouth. After falling to Indiana on Saturday afternoon , the Spartans fell to Ball State (5-7 overall , 1-1 MAC ) 2-1 in overtime on Sunday.
The unpredictability of MSU’s season reached a new high against the Cardinals. In the last matchup between these two teams MSU was able to run all over BSU to a score of 8-0 . Just last weekend, BSU lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes by a score of 8-0 in a game where they were outshot 32-0.
None of that mattered on Sunday however, as the Spartans and Cardinals appeared to be evenly matched.
BSU got the first goal of the game in the eleventh minute to make it 1-0. The Cardinals’ Cameron Daniels scored her second of the season off a penalty corner. The goal marked the tenth straight game where the Spartans have allowed the game’s first goal, a streak they are desperately trying to end.
Senior forward Abby Barker was able to tie the game up for MSU late in the 25th minute. It was Barker’s twelfth goal on the season, which leads the team.
Neither team was able to do much in the second half, although MSU did generate a handful of opportunities in the waning moments of regulation. Shots wide of the net and a good save from the Cardinals goalie kept MSU from scoring the go-ahead goal.
In the Spartans seventh overtime game of the year, it didn’t take long for the deciding goal to be scored. BSU’s Lexi Kavanaugh scored her sixth goal of the season 3:20 into extra-time to hand MSU a disheartening loss.
MSU has an opportunity to rebound next weekend, as they play host to No. 8 Northwestern and No. 10 Iowa.
