With the game tied coming out of halftime, both teams were looking to take the advantage. It was Central Michigan field hockey who opened the scoring for the game as sophomore backer Klara Mikulaskova scored the first goal of the match, assisted by sophomore forward Zoey Emrick.

However, it was the Cardinals of Ball State who were winning as time ran out, taking home the victory 3-1 on Friday.

Going into the matchup, the Chippewas had not won a game in more than a month and were looking to break their seven game losing streak.

CMU had struggled against Ball State in the recent past, going 3-7 in their last 10 matchups against the Cardinals.

Ball State came out as the aggressor for the first part of the game. The Cardinals controlled possession early while applying pressure on offense. Ball State took five shots in the first 10 minutes of the opening period while keeping the Chippewas to zero.

With about four minutes left in the period, CMU found some offensive momentum, taking their first shot of the game and suddenly flipping the pressure onto the Cardinals.

In those final minutes, the Chippewas had two penalty corner attempts and took five shots. However, neither team scored in the first period.

Central Michigan continued to push the Cardinals early in the second quarter, however the pace slowed down.

Both teams struggled to get into scoring positions, resulting in a limited amount of shots taken in the quarter. The Chippewas only managed one shot in the period. The Cardinals finished the quarter with three total shots taken.

The two teams battled it out to finish the half, but neither team was able to get the ball into the net, leaving the game scoreless going into halftime.

Central Michigan came out of the break and immediately got to work. The team took three quick shots, and were awarded a couple of penalty corner attempts within the first six minutes of the quarter.

The Chippewas failed their first corner attempt, but capitalized on the second as Mikulaskova’s shot got past the Cardinal’s goaltender to take the lead of the game.

Ball State responded quickly, as the Chippewas committed a foul in the shooting circle, awarding the Cardinals a penalty stroke a little more than a minute after the CMU goal. Ball State junior midfielder Emma van Hal took the attempt, and shot the ball past the Chippewa goaltender to tie the game at one goal apiece.

With 1:50 left in the third quarter, Ball State junior forward Christine Ditizio was given a green card, leaving the Cardinals short-handed for two minutes. However, the Chippewas could not score as the game remained tied going into the decisive fourth quarter.

With about seven minutes left in the game, Ball State finally broke the deadlock when junior midfielder/forward Grace Clokie scored a goal to take the lead.

With 2:33 left in the match, the Chippewas pulled their goalie to try and take advantage of the game with an extra attacker. However, after gaining the momentum, Ball State continued to attack the Chippewas, and were awarded a penalty corner attempt with 1:43 left in the game.

The Cardinals were able to put the ball into the net one more time on the final penalty corner attempt to win the game.

Central Michigan is now 3-9 on the season, and 0-5 in conference play.

The Chippewas play one more time this weekend as they host the Michigan State Spartans at 1 p.m. on Sunday as they celebrate Senior Day.