Friday was a character-builder for the MSU women's soccer team.
Virginia, ranked No. 11, arrived at Old College Field for an exhibition game against the Spartans where the final score of 1-1 left MSU head coach Tom Saxton with some preseason answers and a what-to-do list for the Spartans before their regular-season opener Friday against Furman.
"What it does is give us a lot of stuff to work on," Saxton said. "And we still came away with some confidence because we competed with them. It gives me lots of things to use in practice, but we can feel good about ourselves because we hung in there and competed with them."
After a scoreless first half, Virginia midfielder Kelly Hammond scored off an assist by Shannon Foley in the 74th minute. The Cavalier go-ahead strike only lasted three minutes, as MSU sophomore midfielder Linsey Laskowski struck the tie off a cross from sophomore defensive midfielder Emily Wiegand. The game was completed after a 10-minute overtime session grossed no goals.
Virginia controlled most of the game, out-shooting the Spartans 27-3. Saxton said Spartan senior goaltender Stacy Heller was the star for his squad with her 13-save outing, but his team showed signs of why they landed the school's first NCAA Tournament berth last season.
"I thought the biggest thing was our ability to persevere because we really weren't playing well offensively at all," Saxton said. "We defended kind of for our lives, and when we got the ball, we didn't do a good job with it. So just kind of hanging in there and then answering their goal, that shows the psychology of the team. That's a veteran team that I expect to compete and show that kind of character.
"That was by far the biggest plus."
Welcome home
Friday's contest placed former MSU men's soccer players and current coach Saxton of MSU and Virginia women's head soccer coach Steve Swanson against one another.
The last time the two went head-to-head was in practice under current MSU men's soccer coach Joe Baum at Old College Field.
"It's always great to come back here," Swanson said. "It's good to see old friends. I played with Tom for a couple years and it's great to see him. And of course I played for Joe. But, it's really nice to come home and see how far the programs have come - both programs."
Marathon women?
The NCAA has instituted a new substitution rule for college soccer that has come as a concern to Saxton.
This week during practice, his plan is to find out who can and cannot play the minutes in games.
"The substitution rules have changed a little bit, which also concerns me," Saxton said. "You cannot re-enter anymore by half and they used to get re-entry in the second half. So you could kind of rest somebody using subbing patterns.
"Now there is going to be no resting with subbing patterns and I'm a little bit concerned with certain individuals' fitness, so that will be something we'll address. And then we need to get our offense in gear and I think if we can do that, we'll be ready for Furman next Friday."
Injury report
In her first season of eligibility, Georgia transfer and MSU junior forward Lauren Zacharski went down with a MCL strain.
How long Zacharski will have to sit out is day-to-day.
"We hope we didn't lose her for the year," Saxton said. "She was somebody we figured would be a starter or a regular contributor."
