By Bob Darrow
Special for The State news

The MSU men's soccer team has heard coach Joe Baum tell them that in order to win a game, they have to give 110-percent effort for the full 90 minutes.

After Sunday's 4-2 loss to rival Michigan, the Spartans are likely wishing that half the amount of time would have been enough.

The contest at Old College Field was a tale of two Spartan teams - one that was thoroughly dominated by Michigan in the first half, and the other that stormed out after halftime to score two quick goals and continue to threaten the Wolverines' lead for the duration of the game.

For the first 46 minutes, the action belonged almost entirely to U-M. The Wolverines blew an early scoring opportunity when a free kick sailed over the crossbar. But MSU senior goalkeeper Mike Robinson came up with several big stops in the first half, including a save on Knox Cameron, who fired a bullet, point-blank shot that Robinson was able to knock over the back of the net.

However, Robinson was less than perfect the rest of the afternoon. He received a yellow card - one of five issued to the Spartans during the course of the game - after head-butting Michigan's Kevin Robinson as he broke to the net with the ball.

Robinson was able to leave the field by his own power. He returned to the game near the end of the first half with his nose stuffed with Kleenex.

The yellow card resulted in a Michigan penalty kick, which the strong-footed Kevin Taylor booted past Robinson to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.

Mike White widened Michigan's lead to two goals after he broke free from the Spartans' defenders on a pass from Cameron and scored easily. Cameron, who is currently playing on the United States' U-20 national team, had possession of the ball in MSU's zone more often than the Spartan defenders did.

"Knox had a good game," U-M coach Steve Burns said. "He really reinvented himself this season. He recognized how much work there is on both sides of the ball."

Baum was impressed with Cameron, saying the team knew coming into the game he would be a threat, but he was more pleased with the effort of his own players.

"When a team's down 3-0, a lot of the time they go in the tank," Baum said. "I think the way we played in the second half showed a lot of heart."

The Spartans' offense fired on all cylinders for the final 44 minutes of the game, getting on the board just 30 seconds after Cameron's goal with a powerful shot by senior defender Kevin Wittig. Less than five minutes later, sophomore forward Ryan McMahen brought MSU back into the game with another goal, making it 3-2.

With 14 minutes left in the game, U-M's Kevin Savitskie nailed the lid on the Spartans' coffin when he scored an open-net goal on a Robinson miscue.

MSU took the loss hard, but Baum remains optimistic.

"We've still got Penn State, Wisconsin and the Big Ten tournament," he said. "We're not discouraged."