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MSU field hockey couldn't maintain weekend momentum against Northwestern on Sunday, falling 5-2

October 19, 2014

Following an important conference win over No. 12 Iowa on Friday, MSU field hockey was unable to cap off its weekend with another victory. No. 9 Northwestern came into East Lansing on Sunday and built an early 3-0 lead, and went on to defeat the Spartans 5-2.

With MSU Athletic Director Mark Hollis in attendance to watch, MSU fell behind early once more. After the Spartans failed to convert a penalty corner, the Wildcats countered all the way down the field and Dominique Masters scored for NU in the fourth minute. MSU has now allowed the first goal in 12 of their 15 games.

After a slight lull in play, NU was afforded two penalty corners around the 15-minute mark of the first half and converted on both to take a 3-0 lead. After such a complete performance from MSU on Friday, assistant coach Molly Pelowski was not happy with how her team came out.

“We came out flat,” Pelowski said. “That’s the bottom line. We didn’t come out playing Spartan hockey and then I think we hit the panic button for the first 35 minutes”

MSU did show some flashes of “Spartan hockey” in the second half. Trailing 3-0, MSU got on the scoreboard in the 49th minute, as senior back Alli Helwig buried a rebound for her second goal in as many games.

With a slight shift in momentum, MSU was able to score again less than two minutes later. Off a penalty corner, senior back Jenni Smith released a shot towards the net that got redirected by sophomore midfielder Kristin Matula .

“The girls showed a lot of character, I think, coming back in the second half,” Pelowski said. “We started moving the ball. ... Once we got into that second half, ball carrier got her head up, people off-ball started moving, we started stringing passes together (and) we got that goal and the momentum started to shift.”

The Wildcats called a timeout to regroup after MSU’s second goal. After that, NU was able to shut the Spartans down for the remainder of the game, and added two more goals of their own.

With a loss, MSU remains in fifth place in the competitive Big Ten, as the Wildcats improve to 5-1. MSU’s lone conference game left on the schedule will be played next week in Ann Arbor, against No. 14 U-M.

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