As six men’s soccer seniors stepped off of Old College Field after a tough 2-1 loss to Wisconsin on Sunday there were no regrets.
“To me it was kind of an honor to go out with everybody playing as hard as they could for the seniors,” senior goalkeeper Tyler Robinson said. “It’s a tough loss, but it’s still kind of a moral victory to know that everybody put their hearts into everything. I can really respect that.”
The Spartans left everything they had on the field, but after a hard-played first half they were down 2-0 and couldn’t come back. Both of Wisconsin’s first-half tallies were just out of the reach of a diving Robinson.
The first came at 18:50 when sophomore forward Nick Van Sicklen drove down the field and put one into the back of the net. Thirteen minutes later freshman forward Phil Doeh scored on a header with an assist off of a cross kick from Van Sicklen.
“They say 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in sports, it’s also pretty tough to come back from,” junior midfielder Nick DeGraw said. “But we came out in the second half and left everything on the field.”
The Spartans dominated the second-half shot production, outshooting Wisconsin 12-2. But the game was a tough, physical battle fought in war of penalties. Eight personal fouls and three ejections were handed down in the contest.
With 6:20 left in the second half, senior defenseman Scott Babinski was cleated in the chest by Wisconsin senior defenseman Mike Epp, who was ejected for the offense. Two minutes later, Babinski was tossed after colliding with Wisconsin’s goalkeeper.
“They (Wisconsin) looked to me like they were tired, so they just packed it in and fouled,” MSU head coach Joe Baum said. “You give up that many shots and usually it backfires. But hey, they’re walking off winners so I guess you gotta give them some credit for that philosophy.”
The Spartans’ lone goal came with 18:25 left in the second half when junior defenseman Kevin Wittig sent a cross kick to Degraw, who headed the ball deep into the back of the net.
With Sunday’s loss, the team needs to perform well in their last regular-season game against Bowling Green and in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament to get an NCAA bid.
“This was kind of a must-win today, but you never know, we could get into the Big Ten Tournament and get on a roll and win two or three games,” Robinson said. “I think if we do that, we’ve got enough quality wins this season that the (selection) committee will look on us favorably.”
Baum looks at the loss to the Badgers as a motivation-booster for the team to excel against Bowling Green and make an end-of-the-season run.
“I think we’re more motivated for that tournament now than we’ve ever been,” Baum said. “I thought we played our hearts out. It’s just some days you win and some days you don’t.”
