"Penn State always bring their 'A' game," MSU head coach Michele Madison said. "They played with a lot of emotion. Our mindset was really good. It was very attacking as usual, but I thought Penn State was able to shut down some of our counterattacks."

At the start, MSU's offensive front dominated action on the field, putting pressure on the defense. About nine minutes into the first half, MSU freshman forward Michelle Ciliberti was positioned perfectly to tip a far, left-side shot from senior midfielder Annebet Beerman.

This goal would be crucial to the matchup, since it would be enough to hold MSU ahead for the remainder of the game.

"It was a close game," Goudswaard said. "They were very skilled - it was hard to play against them - but we pulled out a win."

The Spartans entered the game with a precise strategy to take the game piece by piece.

"One of our goals was to play each five minutes at a time, and I think we did well with that," junior forward Michelle Huynh-Ba said.

Goudswaard described how this specific game strategy, taking the contest in five-minute sections, is an effective way to assess the game, briefly reflecting and checking the team's play, making sure the players were doing what they wanted to be doing as the half progressed.

"This was a way that we could keep focus so we don't have to look at the 35 minutes, which usually looks like such a long period of time," she said.

In past games, MSU's offense had been able to net a couple of goals each game, but Penn State kept the Spartans on their toes, playing physical and preventing counterattacks.

"I think we got fouled a lot and we didn't get called," Goudswaard said. "We didn't get too many corners, which I think we could have gotten more. We really did a good job at keeping going."

Huynh-Ba said the Spartans did well attacking the corner space presented to them in the game. Defensively, she said, the team was just trying to halt the Penn State offense.

"They would come at us fast - we would try to stop them and slow them down," Huynh-Ba said.

And successful the Spartans were in their defensive effort, with junior goalkeeper Christina Kirkaldy holding on to another shutout, her fifth, and the team's fifth, of the season.

Kirkaldy faced five shots throughout the game.

The pressure doesn't let up after Saturday's game since next on the Spartans' plate is a face-off against the other remaining undefeated team - Michigan. Combined with the already existing intrastate rivalry, this game will prove to be big for the Spartans.

While Goudswaard sees the next step as simply "practice this Tuesday," Madison is already planning areas to concentrate and work on at this point in the season, including "second efforts, staying sharp, keep throwing and staying focused."

"We have to work on our defense, and you can see why - it is going to come down to who's going to keep scoring," Madison said.

"(U-M) is a difficult team, they have been in the past. They are very dangerous in the circle and Jessica Blake will shoot the ball."

The players are pumped, hoping that their determination and practice will bring success next weekend in the matchup against the Wolverines (10-3, 2-0).

"I guess we can just focus on the team that comes up next. We watch films, we practice as a team, we just keep going as a team, that helps us build as a team," Huynh-Ba said.

"It's Michigan, it's a rivalry, always a big game, so we got to practice this week, come together and focus. It is our only game for the weekend, so we are going to kick ass."

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Big Ten standings

School	Big Ten	Overall
MSU	3-0	13-1
Michigan	2-0	10-3
Iowa	2-0	6-5
Penn State	2-1	8-6
Northwestern	1-2	7-6
Indiana	0-4	7-6
Ohio State	0-3	6-6

Source: Big Ten