The No. 6 MSU field hockey team opened its Big Ten schedule with an impressive 5-0 win over the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
The Spartans (5-3, 1-0 Big Ten) dominated the game, outshooting Northwestern 15-4 in the win.
“All week, we’ve been working on hits into the circle, and I’ve been working on my movement cutting to the ball,” senior forward Bridget Cooper said.
It seems to be working - the first goal came 13 minutes into the first half as Cooper guided the ball past goalkeeper Kendra Mesa on a pass from freshman midfielder Annebet Beerman. The goal was Cooper’s seventh of the season.
“This was our first Big Ten game,” Cooper said. “It was huge to get a win.”
Sophomore forward Theresa Pusateri added to the score in the first half.
In the last two minutes of the game, Northwestern (1-6, 0-1) made a couple of offensive pushes, forcing senior goalkeeper Mara Mabley to make one of MSU’s two saves to maintain the shutout.
Sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Hess also had a save in her third shutout of the season.
Besides those two shots on goal, the Wildcats didn’t present much of a threat to the Spartan defense. Half of the Wildcats’ four total shots followed with penalties.
Head coach Michele Madison said the team executed a carefully designed game plan.
“We wanted to attack a lot. We worked on rebound plays,” she said.
The team prepared for Saturday’s game without the benefit of film, Madison said, and to counter that handicap, the team worked on its own weaknesses.
Madison rotated the roster to move the big playmakers to the midfield, in order to encourage teamwork and to try to move the ball upfield more, she said.
“We’ve been working on teamwork this week,” Pusateri said. “We lost it the last couple of games.”
And teamwork was evident in the win, as the five goals came from five different players. In the second half, goals came from senior forward Maureen Halstead, junior midfielder Cynthia Martin and sophomore forward Sophie Rosmalen, all three within a 12-minute span.
Madison said her team was still lucky to dominate the Wildcats the way it did.
“Northwestern’s always very skillful and disciplined. We knew it wouldn’t be easy,” she said.
MSU next hosts Central Michigan at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Duffy Daugherty Football Building.
“I feel that we can’t change anything,” Pusateri said. “We have to play it like it is our first Big Ten game.”
