The men’s soccer team will play its only home game for the month of October today, and the team plans to make it count.

Loyola travels to Old College Field 4 p.m. today on a seven-game slide after winning its first three games of the season. Last year, the Ramblers finished fifth in the eight-team Horizon League with a 6-10-2 record.

MSU head coach Joe Baum said after tying 1-1 with the Ramblers last season, his team is wary of both the matchup and the team’s new players.

“They’re a much better team than their record shows,” Baum said. “Even the games they’ve lost, they’ve been close. They may have lost seven straight, but they’re not going to lose all season.”

This year, Loyola fields six freshmen in its starting lineup. Forward Joe Nierzwicki has posed the biggest offensive threat, leading the team with eight points.

“The thing with freshmen is, they’re either really good or bad,” Baum said. “They always play with a lot of enthusiasm, they’re just not always consistent. I hope today is a day where their inconsistency shows.”

The veteran Spartan squad has proven to be a formidable opponent for any team, and despite injuries occurring throughout the roster this year, Baum said the squad is making the proper adjustments.

“Our roster is going to see some younger players now,” Baum said. “We don’t have a choice - with (junior midfielder) John Minagawa-Webster and (sophomore forward) Ryan McMahen redshirted now, we are going to see some new faces getting playing time.”

Looking ahead in the season, the Spartans have four games to prepare for a set of games against ranked teams, No.19 Notre Dame and No. 24 Penn State.

Baum insists, however, that his team will not look any further than today’s game.

“We act like we only have one game every day,” Baum said. “The minute we mention ‘further down the road,’ we lose focus on the task at hand. Next thing you know, we lose to Loyola because we’re thinking about another game.”