By Pk Bartley
Marathon between Cardinal teams goes to tiebreak after double overtime
U of L falls to Ball State 3-2
By PK Bartley
Field hockey writer
On Saturday afternoon, the University of Louisville women’s field hockey team hosted their rivals from the MAC, Ball State University.
The game started off well for the Cards. They managed to get a penalty corner early in the first half, which they capitalized on with a score from senior back Danielle Barr at the 3:46 mark.
“We want to do well on the penalty corners,” said U of L head coach Pam Bustin. “We feel that our penalty corner play is very strong.”
After taking the lead, Louisville played their usual outstanding defense.
However, Ball State was relentless, and eventually got a goal to tie the game 1-1.
The game was not tied for long as U of L regained the lead after a goal by junior forward Olivia Netzler at the 22:08 mark.
The score remained 2-1 going into the halftime.
In the second half, again Louisville got an early penalty corner, but this time they were unable to score. Ball State was able to take the ball down the field and get a penalty corner of their own, which they scored off of tying the game 2-2.
At this point the Cards seemed to have lost their legs after playing in their second game in less than 24 hours. Louisville’s Wednesday game against Indiana had gone to double overtime.
“We were definitely fatigued,” says Bustin, “and I thought they fought really hard under the conditions we’ve been under. We’ve had some hard games in the last few days, and I knew Ball State was going to come out strong and fresh. We’re a wanted team now. We’re fun to play, and it means something now when you beat us.”
Louisville had their chances in the second half, getting three penalty corners, but they were unable to capitalize on any of those chances. Neither of the teams could score, taking the game into overtime.
Things started off bad for U of L in overtime. Ball State came out more aggressive and got an early penalty corner.
Luckily for U of L, the Ball State offense moved before they were supposed to which negated the penalty corner.
Then the Cards managed to get a penalty corner of their own, but again were unable to get a goal.
The fatigue factor played a big part in U of L not being able to score in overtime.
“In overtime I think we were a little tired,” says Netzler. “And when your tired you don’t think as well out there, and you don’t play as smart as you normally would. I think that they are really fit and we’re really fit too. I don’t think there is a reason we lost, it’s just Ball State played really well today.” Louisville got out-shot in the first overtime, 5-4, and Ball State had more penalty corners 2-1.
U of L still managed to keep the score tied, mostly due to great saves by senior goalkeeper Janina Perna, and brought them into double overtime.
Both teams had chances, but neither could capitalize on them and forced the game to be decided by penalty shots.
By NCAA rules, if a game goes into penalty shots, both teams get five shots each. A team must get three out of five goals to win the game. Ball State being the visitor had the choice and decided to defend first. So U of L had the first penalty shot.
The Cards missed the first shot, while Ball State scored on theirs.
U of L junior forward Desire’ Miller scored on the second penalty shot, while Ball State missed on theirs.
For the third penalty shot, junior back Casey Lehman scored for U of L, which unfortunately would be the last of the penalty shots that U of L would make.
Ball State ended up making their next two shots to win the game 3-2. The loss drops U of L’s record to 8-4, and 3-1 in the MAC.
