After Sunday’s double overtime battle against Penn State, MSU’s men’s soccer team can look forward to a less consequential game at 3 p.m. today at Old College Field against Western Michigan.
A win against Penn State would have placed the Spartans (8-3-1, 3-2 Big Ten) at second in the Big Ten, but an unfortunate bounce gave the Nittany Lions the 1-0 win and No. 2 spot in the Big Ten.
For the Spartans, it was a frustrating experience, but the excitement and quality of the game gave some consolation, head coach Joe Baum said.
“The players were frustrated right after that game,” he said. “But I think when they looked back on it 24 or 48 hours later, they realized it was a great matchup and they could’ve won that game.”
The team has watched a lot of film since Sunday’s game, but Baum said the physical nature of the game prevented the players from devoting as much time as usual to preparations for Western Michigan (5-8).
“We were so worn out after that game we had to cut back and cut our practices,” Baum said. “After a game like that you can’t come out and kill them for a couple days, you have to back off and re-energize.”
Luckily, Western Michigan is not expected to provide the same challenge that Penn State did.
Penn State is ranked No. 24 in the NSCAA/Adidas Division I poll and the consequences of the match put pressure on the team.
Western Michigan, on the other hand, has let in an average of 2.6 goals per game and only scored an average of 1.5 goals per game.
The team has to make sure it does not relax too much, however, senior midfielder Steve Arce said.
“Coming out of the intensity of the game on Sunday, sometimes it is anticlimactic to play a midweek game where there’s not as many fans,” he said. “We just have to make sure that the starting 11 guys on that field are going to play with the same intensity that we did on Sunday.”
The loss to Penn State may have pushed MSU down in the Big Ten rankings, but the postseason is still an option for the team.
In order to make that option a reality, the team has to finish the final three games of the season strong.
“If we legitimately want to make the NCAA tournament, we have to win the rest of our games out right,” senior midfielder Anders Kelto said. “The feeling within the team is that this Western game is as big as the Indiana game, as big as the Penn State game, it’s as big as the Michigan game.”
The team hopes it can use that renewed sense of pressure and the emotions from the Penn State loss to its advantage, Arce said.
“Right now, the feeling with the boys is that we want to take out some of those frustrations (from the Penn State game) out on Western,” he said. “We need to try to win out the rest of the games and finish up strong in the Big Ten tournament.”
With the tournament quickly approaching, the team is obligated to prevent the loss from becoming a streak and show that it can stay focused, Kelto said.
“We have to rise to the occasion,” he said. “We’re not a professional team but we’re expected to act as professional players. Professionals always find a way to get up for every game no matter how big or how small.”
