Detroit's net was very inviting to the No. 19 MSU women's soccer team Sunday afternoon.
MSU (3-1) defeated Detroit 4-0 in a game MSU women's soccer head coach Tom Saxton said was the type of offensive effort his team needed.
"That's exactly what our emphasis was going into the weekend and we came away from the Eastern game Friday a little bit dissatisfied," Saxton said. "We actually played very well right from the get-go and left a lot of chances out there."
MSU defeated Eastern 2-0 Friday.
Little time was wasted when it came to scoring. In the game's seventh minute, sophomore forward Emma Harris scored the go-ahead strike off assists from sophomore midfielder Erin Konheim and senior midfielder Tiffany Laskowski.
The 32nd minute grossed the next score by senior forward Trisha Kenny off an assist by junior midfielder Abby Shepherd. The second half came and two more goals came along with it in the 47th and 76th minutes, respectively. This time it was Laskowski taking assists from Harris and senior midfielder Michelle Perun. Shepherd tallied the final score off assists from Kenny and Laskowski. With the win, senior goalkeeper Stacy Heller set the new MSU record for career shutouts with 18.5.
Saxton said playing against lower-tier Division I schools should produce outcomes such as Sunday's, but Saxton is looking for more consistency from his team in regards to keeping its offensive energy up in all situations.
"Detroit Mercy, with all respect to them, are a good team. But when a Big Ten school plays a team like that, this is really what should happen," Saxton said. "We still have to go further.
"We're going into Western next week in a similar type of game. When we score a goal, we can't have that let up and we had that again today. Today was a definite positive step in the right direction."
MSU earned its highest national ranking at No. 19 in the Sept. 1 NSCAA/adidas poll.
Although polls change throughout the year, Saxton said he would like to see his team stay in the top 25 throughout the season as they vie for another trip to the NCAA tournament.
"We all take it as a great compliment," Saxton said. "It's recognition for all the hard work that we did last year and starting off against a good Furman team and getting that win probably propelled us in there.
"But we need to keep it in perspective and the kids are proud of it."
