No. 5 MSU field hockey team had a tough matchup Sunday but came out on top, downing No. 11 Louisville 4-2.
With the victory, the Spartans improve to 13-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten this season.
“They really put their passing game together today,” head coach Michele Madison said referring to her team. “They received the ball on the move, spread the field out and once we got going and played together like that, it was great.”
The Spartans got their first goal from sophomore back Judith van Haeringen off a penalty corner seven minutes into the match.
At 24:13 MSU struck again, this time from sophomore forward Michelle Carstens, who tapped in a cross from senior midfielder Cynthia Martin to make the score 2-0.
Sophomore midfielder Annebet Beerman sent a strong ball streaking into the cage just after halftime for her team- and conference-leading 14th goal of the year.
Beerman missed Saturday’s game with a broken finger, but was cleared to return to action Sunday, despite the injury.
Madison said although Beerman’s presence was missed, she was impressed with how the team put its game together against such a tough opponent.
“We started and got the game going without her. I think that really gave the team a lot of confidence,” Madison said. “And once we put her in, she always adds something.”
Beerman, though somewhat hindered by a finger brace, finished Sunday’s match with three points.
“If we play low opponents, sometimes I think we play at their speed, but today we played at our own speed,” Beerman said. “We can play really high intensity, but we have to keep it up, and that’s what we did today.”
Cardinal forward Joanie Frame snuck one past freshman netminder Christina Kirkaldy at 45:40 to cut the MSU lead to two, but Carstens answered with her second goal to regain a three-goal lead.
With one minute left, Louisville forward Olivia Netzler scored, but that was the final strike of the game as the Spartans rolled to a 4-2 victory.
“We really stepped it up, came out confident and proved ourselves today,” senior forward Julia Adams said.
On Saturday, Madison collected her 150th career coaching victory as the Spartans downed Indiana, 5-1.
After failing to score in the first half, freshman forward Michelle Huynh-Ba got the ball rolling for MSU, putting one in the back of the cage at the 43:08 mark.
Freshman midfielder Jessica Miller followed suit, netting her goal off a penalty corner less than 10 minutes later.
The Hoosiers (3-9, 1-2) mustered their only offense a minute after Miller’s score, but three goals in three minutes sealed the game in the Spartans’ favor.
Martin, Carstens and freshman forward Megan Kunk took credit for the final three strikes.
MSU’s next match is Saturday against the No. 13 Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4, 2-1). Faceoff is 3:30 p.m. at the MSU Field Hockey Complex.
“Iowa’s a top team in the Big Ten. I think Louisville was good preparation for them,” Madison said. “It’ll definitely be a barnburner and we’re looking forward to it.”
