After a disappointing start to its Big Ten season, the MSU women’s soccer team found its first conference win of the season against Northwestern on Sunday at Old College Field.
A crowd of 375 watched as the Spartans (4-3-2, 1-2-1 Big Ten) battled to a 1-0 victory over the Wildcats.
The win raised the spirits of the Spartans, who had had dismal showings in the Big Ten so far this season.
“Had we not come out of here with three points today, we’d really have a big hole to dig out of,” head coach Tom Saxton said.
Northwestern (2-5-1, 1-2-1 Big Ten) put the pressure on early, but the Spartans refused to let the team score while they waited for their chance.
“If you’re defending for a while, you just can’t freak out,” Saxton said. “You just have to keep working and you’ll have your opportunities if you stay composed. We did a good job of that.”
That opportunity presented itself 67 minutes into the game when sophomore forward Tiffany Laskowski took a pass from junior defenseman Amy Allen and darted by the Northwestern defenders to shoot it over Wildcat goalkeeper Susan McCreery.
The goal tagged the first score for MSU since Sept. 19, when it defeated Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne 7-0.
After that victory, the Spartans lost games to Iowa and Illinois and tied with Wisconsin 0-0 on Friday.
The scoreless phase proved to be trying for Laskowski, the team’s scoring leader.
“I don’t care who scored, we just knew we had to put something in the net today and we had to start winning games,” Laskowski said. “We had a lot of chances, it just felt like, Tom (Saxton) said, there’s Saran Wrap around the net.”
Although the forwards became frustrated, the defense relaxed.
“Our captain Erin Stohl talked about it at the beginning of the game when we had our team meeting,” sophomore goalkeeper Stacy Heller said. “She talked about ‘pressure this, pressure that, just everyone forget about it, go out there, have fun, and play our game.’ That’s the way we’re going to win.’”
And as the game progressed, Heller said the defense stayed true to those words and stayed focused.
“At times, there was some pressure on the net and the defense took care of it, so it was great,” she said.
Despite a good defensive performance and a return of some offense, the Spartans still showed some weaknesses. Physical plays gave MSU trouble as Northwestern routinely outfought them for air balls.
“It’s a pure physical game,” sophomore midfielder Trisha Kenny said. “Teams just win by being physical and winning those 50/50 balls, and I think once we get a little bit tougher and win those, we’ll be winning these games.”
MSU plays next at 6 p.m. Friday at State College, Pa., against Penn State.
“We’ve had one season-ending injury, but a lot of people are questionable,” Saxton said. “I’d say we’ve got to get them healthy, first of all, because Penn State is going to be a mighty challenge.”
