The MSU field hockey team clinched a share of its first Big Ten regular season title, but the team hasn’t escaped the conference yet.
Top 25 teams such as Penn State, Iowa and Michigan have one last chance at the Spartans (15-4, 5-1 Big Ten) at the Big Ten Tournament this weekend in Evanston, Ill.
MSU earned the No. 1 seed for the tournament by defeating Ohio State 2-1 on Oct. 20.
The seeding gives the Spartans a bye in the first round, matching them in the second round with the winner of the first-round game between fourth-seeded Iowa (11-4, 3-3) and fifth-seeded Penn State (12-6, 3-3).
But in a conference in which five of the seven teams are ranked in the Top 20 of the STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, either team could give the Spartans trouble, sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Hess said.
“The Big Ten is just so competitive it really could be anyone’s game,” Hess said. “It’s two steps up to play right now. We’ve got the pressure on us.”
MSU beat Iowa 2-1 in its last game of the season Friday to clinch the share of the Big Ten title.
But the Hawkeyes outshot the Spartans 11 to nine in the hard-fought game.
“We came out with a win, but it was a hard win,” junior midfielder Cynthia Martin said. “We didn’t have all the play.”
If Iowa loses its first-round game, MSU will have to face Penn State, which could be just as challenging.
MSU beat the Nittany Lions 3-2 in double overtime Sept. 28 but, again, the win didn’t come easy for the Spartans.
“We saw (Penn State) before they started clicking and we still had an overtime game,” head coach Michele Madison said. “So they’re in the hunt too.”
If MSU advances past the second round, the championship game will likely consist of either Ohio State (12-4, 5-1 Big Ten) or U-M (13-4, 4-2 Big Ten), though Indiana (1-15, 0-6 Big Ten) or Northwestern (2-12, 1-5 Big Ten) could be spoilers.
Against the Buckeyes and the Wolverines, the Spartans hold a 1-1 record.
MSU defeated Ohio State in their only matchup of the season and the Wolverines handed the Spartans their only Big Ten loss in a 2-1 overtime game Oct. 4.
The opportunity to regain the win against U-M is tempting but, ironically, it may be easier for the Spartans to play the higher-seeded Ohio State, Martin said.
“With Michigan, we have to shut down the whole team,” she said. “Player for player, they probably have one of the better teams.”
But even with so many challenges ahead, Madison said she’s just happy those teams don’t have the home-field advantage.
“It’s probably a race between Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State,” she said. “But at least we don’t have them home, Penn State at Penn State or Iowa, it’s a neutral field.”
Furthermore, as long as the team’s defense holds, MSU is confident it can live up to the expectations, senior forward Jessica Wheeler said.
“We need to start out with our defense,” she said. “If we start the game playing well defensively then our offense comes off that. That’s when we’re playing our best.”
The Spartans set out at the beginning of the year to gain a bid to the NCAA Tournament. If they won the Big Ten tourney, they would get an automatic bid.
And the players are confident the bid is theirs for the taking, Hess said.
“We’re real excited about playing,” she said. “We’ve got that attitude of bring on anybody, we can do it. We know that we could win any game, it’s just a matter of doing it now.”
