COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Colorado College turned in its most dominating defensive effort of the season, which gave the offense a chance to break through in the second half. The end result was a 2-0 victory over Ball State University on Friday afternoon in a game that was moved to the Washburn Field turf.

CC finished with a 25-1 advantage in shots attempted.

Junior midfielder Kaeli Vandersluis struck for her first goal of the season, pounding home a ball out of the congestion in front of the Cardinals goal in the 67th minute.

“Finally, I broke my goalless streak!” Vandersluis said about her fourth career game winner. “It takes the pressure off for the rest of the season. Now I can just go out and play.”

Vandersluis nearly got on the board three minutes into the second half after taking a feed from sophomore midfielder Sarah Schweiss, but freshman goalkeeper Brooke Dennis came off her line to make a sprawling save five yards in front of the left post.

“That was a great touch by Schweiss,” said Vandersluis. “We both had the most shots at halftime, so it was just a matter of getting them on frame.”    

Schweiss tacked on an insurance goal in the 89th minute, sending a rocket from the left edge of the box into the upper right corner. Senior midfielder Shaina Riciputi started the possession by working the ball free along the sideline to earn her first career point.

“Kaeli and Sarah were brilliant,” head coach Geoff Bennett said. “We challenged the players at halftime and asked who was going to carry the team on their back. It was fitting [that] both of them got one.”

At the other end of the pitch, the Tigers did not allow the lone shot by BSU until the opening minutes of the second half. Sophomore goalkeeper Kate Scheele stopped it en route to her third shutout of the season and the seventh of her career.

“Teams come in here and worry about the altitude, and they tend to sit back and counter attack,” Bennett said. “Our back line did well with that and took care of the few times where Ball State had possession in our end.”  

Dennis made four saves for the Cardinals, who slipped to 4-2-0.

Colorado College plays host to the University of Texas at noon Sunday.

“Getting a 2-0 victory will help motivate us to kick it in gear,” Vandersluis said. “Texas is a big-name school, but we won’t be nervous about playing them.”

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