Junior midfielder Ryan McMahen scored the lone goal of the game in the first half as the MSU men's soccer team snapped its two-game losing streak and evened its Big Ten record at 1-1 with a 1-0 win over Northwestern on Sunday at Old College Field.
Sophomore goaltender Jason Tillman stopped two Northwestern shots and preserved the game in the second half with the Wildcats pressing for the tying goal.
"It was his best game," MSU head coach Joe Baum said. "He's been very solid, but we've been waiting for him to make what we call the 'super-save' and he made it today early in the game.
"If he doesn't make that save, we probably lose the game."
MSU was able to hold off Northwestern early in the first half before having the tide turned the Spartans' way around the 20-minute mark.
The goal by McMahen came near the halfway point of the first half when he received a pass from sophomore midfielder Matt Kreikemeier and went one-on-one with Northwestern goalkeeper Justin Pines before smoking the ball over his head to give the Spartans the 1-0 lead. It was McMahen's third goal of the season.
"Ryan scored a great goal and really set the tone for the game," Tillman said.
The second half featured up-and-down play by both teams, with Northwestern keeping the pressure on Tillman and Pines stumping the Spartans' offense.
"We had a couple major chances that we didn't put away," Baum said. "Our forwards got a little frustrated and started pressing a little bit."
McMahen echoed his coach's sentiment of the team's second-half struggles.
"We just couldn't find our niche in the second half," McMahen said.
On the other end of the field, Tillman was up against a dangerous Northwestern offense, which featured the conference's leading goal scorer in forward Gerardo Alvarez, but the MSU defense, led by senior Kellen Kalso, was able to shut down the Wildcats.
"We're starting to mature as a defense," Kalso said. "Some of the guys that haven't played as much in previous years are starting to get in a comfort zone."
After starting the season on fire offensively, the Spartans have only produced two goals in their last three games, two of which have been losses.
"Goals are funny," Baum said. "They come in bunches sometimes. If you start thinking about it or start pressing, you get yourself in a funk. Just keep working, shoot the ball and don't worry about mistakes and goals will come."
MSU heads back to the field Wednesday in a rare midweek home game at 4 p.m. against Loyola-Chicago. Baum hopes his team can get their minds back onto soccer after a day in the classroom.
"We're just going to make a real good effort to try to get focused on soccer Wednesday afternoon," he said. "It's going to call for the Spartans to really get focused and get ready to play some soccer."
