Even as Tom Saxton projected an aura of strength, his eyes and the tremble in his voice told a different story.
Sixty-four teams heard their names called for the NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament Monday evening, and the MSU women’s soccer team was not one of them. As the team made the slow crawl out of Berkowitz Basketball Complex at Breslin Center, women’s soccer head coach Saxton had a feeling of disappointment at his team’s exclusion from the tournament.
“I have a hollow feeling, and I know they’re disappointed, and I really hurt for them more than anything else,” Saxton said. “We knew we were a bubble team, and unfortunately we ended up on the wrong side of things.”
The Spartans (14-6-1, 7-4-0) saw their season end only a couple days after they were eliminated in overtime in the Big Ten Tournament by eventual tournament champion Illinois, 1-0.
Of the Big Ten teams, the Fighting Illini, Big Ten champion Penn State and Ohio State were given tickets to the tournament, which begins Nov. 11 and runs through the championship game on Dec. 4. MSU fell to PSU and twice to Illinois but handily beat OSU 2-0 in the last home game of the year at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.
“It’s definitely a big disappointment,” junior forward Olivia Stander said. “Not many girls expected this, so I think it’s very hard. We know that we played as hard as we could and gave it our all. I think we’ll look back and know we had a great season.”
In the shadow of the disappointment lies a great number of accomplishments for the Spartans in 2011.
Aside from winning 14 games — second-best in program history — MSU won a program-best seven Big Ten games in the regular season and finished third in the conference standings.
Not being included in the tournament effectively ends the tenure of what Saxton often has called the greatest recruiting class in program history.
Seniors forward Laura Heyboer and goalkeeper Jill Flietstra end their Spartan careers among the best in the history of the program. Heyboer will leave as the MSU career leader in points (139), goals (57), assists (25) and game-winning tallies (19). Flietstra made her mark between the pipes and will leave the program as the career leader in goals against average (0.74), shutouts (29) and is second in career wins (32).
Despite having to swallow a bitter pill, Saxton expressed great pride in the performance of his team in 2011 and expects them to rebound next season.
“It’s a great (senior) group; a lot of them have started since they were freshmen,” Saxton said. “They honestly did take our program to a next level, and we’re very, very proud of them.”
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