ST. LOUIS – Ball State field hockey got its first win of the season over the Saint Louis Billikens on the road.
The game was originally scheduled for last Sunday but was postponed due to weather. The two teams had a hard-fought battle that went to an overtime period, but Ball State came out on top (3-2).
The action started with the Bilikins striking in the first 30 seconds when senior Josefina Perez slashed her way to the cage to give Saint Louis an early 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals had nine shot attempts in the first period but came up empty in all of them. Freshman goalkeeper Abby Schalow had six saves in the first period for Saint Louis.
The second period was a defensive battle between the two teams, as the Billikens attempted four shots in the period, and three of them were rejected by graduate student goalkeeper Hannah Johnston.
The Cardinals however were unable to get within striking distance and didn’t have a single shot attempt for the period.
Ball State eventually evened things up when graduate student Emma Hilton knocked in her first goal of the season off the seventh penalty corner of the game with just under nine minutes left in the third period.
The tie was taken into the final period but was broken early in the fourth period by the Cardinals when graduate student Paloma Gomez Rengifo tomahawked the ball into the cage all while being on the edge of the shooting circle.
On the defensive side, Hannah Johnston racked up another three saves in the fourth period, however, as time expired in the period, a penalty was called against the Cardinals and Saint Louis took advantage of the opportunity with another Josefina Perez goal to send the game to overtime.
The overtime period began with Hannah Johnston standing her ground in the striking zone, and getting two more saves.
Ball State ended up sealing the game with 4:30 left in the period when junior Emma Van Hal fired a ball that ended up in the back of the cage to give Ball State the win.
Ball State snaps a four-game losing streak dating back to last year, including the two losses to Stanford (5-0) and Saint Francis (3-2 OT) to start this season.
The Cardinals are back in action when they take on the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington on Friday, Sept. 13th at 3 p.m.