DEKALB – The NIU women's soccer team (6-5-1, 3-2 MAC) will play on the road for the first time in two weeks as they will head to Muncie, Ind. to take on Ball State (6-5-2. 4-0-1 MAC) Sunday afternoon. These two teams met twice last season with Ball State winning the regular season matchup in DeKalb and the Huskies earning a MAC Tournament win in the first round.
 
The Huskies are hoping to ride the momentum of their 2-1 overtime win against Miami (Ohio) Thursday afternoon as Allie Ingham (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) netted the game winning three minutes into overtime. Haley Hoppe (Austin, Texas/Rouse) scored her third goal of the season and second in as many games with a head on a corner kick from Lauren Gierman (Prospect Heights, Ill./John Hersey)to open the game's scoring.
 
 After not starting the season as the central defensive pair, the redshirt junior Gierman and freshman Hoppe combined to stabilize the back line while also continuing to contribute offensively. Gierman leads the team in points with eight on six assists and a goal as the set piece specialist and Hoppe is tied for second with a team-leading three goals and an assist.
 
The Cardinals boast a balanced offense similar to NIU with 13 players recording points for Ball State this year as Julia Elvbo and Sam Kambol the top-two point scorers with nine and eight points respectively and each scoring four goals. Ball State has used three different goalkeepers this year with two getting the bulk of the minutes in Alyssa Heintschel playing eight games and Tristin Stuteville playing seven.
 
Along with NIU winning their last game at home, the Huskies are also riding a four-game road winning streak. They won their first two MAC road matches at Akron and Buffalo after ending their non-conference schedule with back-to-back road wins scoring a combined nine goals in those four games.
 
This will be a brief road trip as women's soccer will play two-straight road matches next week as they host Kent State in a 2016 MAC Championship rematch next Friday before facing Ohio on Oct. 15.