H eading into the last game of the regular season, No. 19 MSU field hockey is looking to continue its winning ways against No. 9 Louisville this Saturday in East Lansing.
Now back in the NFHCA top-20 rankings, the Spartans will welcome a tough Cardinals team as they look to carry some momentum into the Big Ten Tournament starting on Nov. 6.
“It’s that prep game going into the tournament,” head coach Helen Knull said. “It’s really about us executing ... and then putting together our 70 minutes again.
“We know we can do it. We’ve done it now — Iowa game, our Michigan game — we played solid games, and that’s what I want to see us keep building on.”
The victories over U-M and Iowa have both come in the last two weekends. They were a satisfying sight to Knull, who has preached to her team about putting together those patented “70 minutes of Spartan hockey.” Unfortunately, it hasn’t been attainable for MSU on a game-to-game basis.
This season is running a similar course as the 2013 season for MSU, up to this point. After struggling to find consistency throughout the season, the Spartans caught fire at the end. Finally finding those efforts that Knull stresses for, MSU won the Big Ten Tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
Knowing that moment is right around the corner for this year’s team, this weekend’s game holds an extra emphasis. This will be that last chance for MSU to learn from any mistakes or make any adjustments before the win-or-go-home bout for the Big Ten.
“They’re a really great team,” senior back Alli Helwig said. “We really just need to execute our game plan. Not think of it as Louisville, but think of it as another game preparing us for the Big Ten Tournament.”
After two promising victories over highly ranked Big Ten opponents, adding another against a top-10 Cardinals team would say a lot about how MSU is playing right now.
“This is the time of the season where it really needs to all come together,” senior back Michelle Graham said. “I think that’s what we showed last week — that’s happening”
“We’re just peaking at the right time,” Helwig said. “We’re connecting with each other and I think our relationships, although they took longer to form with different personnel playing ... they’re forming right now and we finally got it all down.
“It’s coming together now perfectly for the end of the season, so hopefully we just have to make the run like we did last year and take one game at a time, she said.”
