Oct. 29, 2009

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - The Miami University women’s soccer team scored five goals in the opening half en route to a record-setting 8-0 victory over the Ball State Cardinals Thursday afternoon at Miami Soccer Field in the regular-season finale for both teams. The eight scores tied for the most in the history of Miami women’s soccer while the eight-goal victory also tied the Miami record for largest margin of victory. The RedHawks (10-7-1, 6-4-1 Mid-American Conference) defeated South Alabama 8-0 on Sept. 2, 2000, making Thursday’s win the largest MAC win in program history and the eight goals the most in a MAC game by the ’Hawks.

The win gave Miami its first 10-win season since 2002 when the RedHawks finished 19-3-2 and guaranteed their first winning season since that same year. With the regular season complete, Miami now turns its attention to the MAC Tournament where the RedHawks earned the No. 6 seed and will face third-seeded Akron on Sunday at Akron. The Cardinals did not qualify for the eight-team league tournament and finished their campaign with a 4-13-1 mark (2-8-1 MAC).

“It’s nice to have some confidence and momentum heading into the MAC Tournament,” Miami head coach Bobby Kramig said. “It’s a great way to send out our senior class who has worked so hard this year and done everything we’ve asked them to and more. We wanted their last memory to be a good one of Miami’s field. We also wanted that 10-win season. That’s a significant mark for us so I’m very pleased with that.”

Eight different RedHawks tallied goals in the win Thursday while five of them also added an assist. Senior Kersta Carlson (Plymouth, Minn.) handed out a pair of helpers in the win over Ball State, giving her eight on the year, which leads the conference and is one shy of tying the Miami single-season record.

Senior Stephanie Laser (Hinsdale, Ill.) found the back of the net first when she blistered a shot from about 35 yards out in the ninth minute that squeaked through the BSU keeper’s hands and trickled into the net. Fellow senior Allison Berkey (Hopkinton, Mass.) garnered the assist. Five minutes later, senior Jodi Zwingelberg (Elgin, Ill.) made it 2-0 when she juked a Cardinal defender and beat Ball State freshman keeper Nicole Wood near post off a feed from sophomore Alexandra Karlsson (Malmo, Sweden).

Berkey then got in the scoring act in the 20th minute when she one-timed in a cross from junior Rachel Byron (Elkhart, Ind.) right in front of the net to make it 3-0. Carlson tallied her first assist of the day on the goal, while Berkey’s tally gave her a team-high-tying six on the year. Sophomore Courtney Clarke (Scarborough, Ont.) made it 4-0 in the 27th minute, heading home a free kick from Carlson. Junior Sara Lund (Malmo, Sweden) finished off the first-half scoring with her team-high-tying sixth goal of the season in the 32nd minute on a pass into the box from Zwingelberg.

The RedHawks did not find the back of the net again until the 80th minute when junior Julie Thompson (Glenview, Ill.) headed in a cross from freshman Jess Kodiak (Naperville, Ill.) for her fourth goal of 2009. The score, which glanced off a Cardinal defender on its way to finding the goal, gave Kodiak her first assist as a RedHawk.

Less than three minutes later, sophomore Krysti Clarke (Scarborough, Ont.) registered her first-career goal to make it 7-0, knocking home a rebound from Thompson. With under 30 seconds remaining in the match, Kodiak tickled the twine for the final time for Miami, as Laser and Krysti Clarke worked the ball through the Ball State defense to an open Kodiak, who scored for the third time in her rookie season, giving the RedHawks the record-setting 8-0 victory.

“We had a good finishing day,” Kramig said. “You have good finishing days and you have bad finishing days. We had a bad one last Friday (in a loss to Western Michigan) and a good one today. I don’t know if the score’s entirely indicative of the match. Sometimes that’s soccer and it just goes that way. We’ve been on the receiving end before so it was nice to be on the giving end for once.”

Senior keeper Krista Pace (Toronto, Ont.) made seven saves to record her second straight shutout in goal, giving her seven on the year, which ties the Miami single-season mark set by Katie Karlander in 2001. Her 0.65 goals-against average also currently stands as a RedHawk single-season record. Wood finished with six stops for Ball State.

For the match, Miami outshot the Cardinals 19-9, including 9-3 in the first half. The ’Hawks also earned all eight corner kicks in the match, holding the opposition without a corner for the third time this season. Redshirt freshman Adrian Hernandez led BSU with four shots, three of which were on target, while Zwingelberg paced Miami with four as well.

The win marked the RedHawks’ first victory over Ball State since 2006 and first in Oxford in a decade (1999).

Miami opens MAC Tournament play Sunday with its quarterfinal match at third-seeded Akron, who defeated the ’Hawks 1-0 in Akron on Oct. 16. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. ET at Lee Jackson Field.

--MURedHawks.com--

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