It was senior day on Saturday for the six Spartan seniors on No. 19 MSU field hockey (10-8, 4-4 Big Ten), but No. 9 Louisville was able to spoil the day by coming away with a 2-1 victory over the Spartans.
Both Cardinals' goals came off penalty corners, and the latter came just minutes after senior mid Becky Stiles tied the game for MSU.
"Obviously disappointed not to get the win," head coach Helen Knull said. "We actually played well today. It was a highly emotional game, you saw cards both ways."
There were six cards handed out during the course of the passion-filled game, with four of them going to MSU. Of the four, senior forward Abby Barker received three of them - one green and two yellows. It was uncommon to see from MSU's star, but is an indicator of how desperate the team was to win the game.
Going into the second half, the Cardinals were able to get on the board less than two minutes in. After not being able to convert on two penalty corners in the first half, Louisville capitalized on their first opportunity in the second. Junior mid Elisa Garcia drilled a shot past the Spartans' sophomore goalkeeper Sierra Patton.
MSU rebounded well after the goal, and wound up scoring the tying goal off of a rebound just over 15 minutes later. After senior back Alli Helwig forced the goalkeeper to make a save off a penalty corner shot, Stiles found herself in the right place and jammed home the goal.
Not able to build off the momentum, Louisville regained its lead less than two minutes later. With another penalty corner, Garcia took a shot towards the net that ended up being deflected by senior back Mallory Mason for a goal.
The Spartans were able to generate some good pressure throughout the remainder of the game, out shooting Louisville by a 8-3 margin. The best opportunity came from Abby Barker after she was able to force a turnover and dribble in on the goalie alone. Cardinals' junior goalkeeper Sydney King made a sprawling save, one of her eight on the day.
"The second half, especially, we dominated a lot of the possession and shots," Knull said. "This is like a tournament game. For our seniors, it was their last home game. They wanted the win. There was that kind of playing with desperation and that's how it's going to be come Thursday."
With the regular season over, MSU will start to prepare for the Big Ten Tournament starting this Thursday in Ann Arbor.
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