Nov. 3, 2006
ATHENS, Ohio - With a berth in the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game on the line, the third-seeded Miami University RedHawks were unable to find their offensive rhythm and dropped a 3-0 decision to second-seeded Ball State on Friday afternoon. The loss ends Miami's season after tying for second place during the MAC regular season and downing sixth-seeded Missouri State in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Ball State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as they capitalized on a breakaway and a penalty corner in the game's first 24 minutes. Katie Kloeckener put the Cardinals up 1-0 just under 20 minutes into the first half when she and Casey Hunsicker combined on a 2-on-0 break and put the ball behind a sprawling Megan Stengel (Louisville, Ky.).
Carla Chiampi doubled the Ball State lead less than four minutes later off a penalty corner as she and Lindsay Quay connected on a play that originated with Chiampi pushing in from the end line. Her pass was taken at the top of the circle by Quay, who immediately returned the pass to Chiampi just outside the right post, where she found the back of the cage at the 23:22 mark.
Quay, the 2006 MAC Player of the Year, made it 3-0 with time winding down in the first half as the Cardinals capitalized on their sixth penalty corner of the first half. The initial pass from the end line came from Chiampi and Jodi Mann made the stick stop before leaving the ball for Quay whose direct shot found its way through traffic and behind Stengel with one minute left in the half.
Freshman Kelsey Dean (Rye, N.Y.) replaced Stengel for the second half and held the Cardinals off the board but the RedHawks were unable to solve Ball State's Caroline Lehman, who made nine saves in the game for the shutout.
Miami outshot Ball State 13-7 in the contest and held a 9-6 advantage in penalty corners.
With the victory, Ball State advanced to the MAC Tournament final against top-seeded Ohio University on Saturday.
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NOTES: Miami's 10-12 season gives it back-to-back 10 win seasons for the first time since 1981-82 ... under third-year head coach Jill Reeve Miami is 4-3 in the MAC Tournament including a trip to last year's title game ... Reeve's career record stands at 27-38 ... junior Alyssa Nye finished the season as Miami's leading scorer with 29 points on nine goals and 11 assists ... senior Danielle Perrecone led the team with 10 goals ... seniors Deb Leighton, Adele French and Danielle Perrecone all played their final games as RedHawks.
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