Ann Arbor - The MSU men's soccer team won the Big Ten Tournament Championship on Sunday by defeating Northwestern, 1-0, accomplishing what no other past Spartans soccer team has ever done.
"This was a team win," MSU head coach Joe Baum said. "Our team philosophy is to win with team defense and this weekend was a testament to our defense. We only gave up one goal in three (tournament) games and that was the key to our victories."
The Spartans (12-6-4 overall, 2-4 Big Ten) went to the championship game by knocking off Indiana on Friday in the second round, 2-1.
The win against Indiana, the defending Big Ten Tournament champions, was the first victory against the Hoosiers since 1965.
Sunday's game had just about everything as both teams played a solid game that saw no scoring in the first half. Each team had three shots on net and the Spartans won the only two corner kicks of the half.
The second half brought a little bit more action as the two teams started forcing the issue more and were attacking for the important first goal.
In the 57th minute, the Spartans got the first big break of the game on a ball that was bouncing around near the goal.
Freshman defender Rauwshan McKenzie sent a ball ahead for senior forward Jordan Gruber and as the ball bounced just outside the box, Wildcats (14-5-2, 3-2-1) goalkeeper Justin Pines was unable to get a handle on the ball. It rolled to the net where Gruber found it and put it away.
"McKenzie played an amazing ball ahead to me and I was just fortunate enough to beat the goalie to the loose ball once it got behind him," Gruber said.
The Spartans did not need much more, but they would get another chance with just more than three minutes left in the game when freshman forward Kenzo Webster went behind the Wildcats defense.
He had a clean break to the net, but was denied by Pines, who stepped out to cut off the angle and knock the shot away.
The Wildcats got one more chance with just under two minutes to play as a ball headed toward the top right corner of the net, but sophomore goalkeeper Jason Tillman was there to save the day as he deflected the ball up over the net.
The Spartans ended up with six shots on net and the Wildcats had five shots. The Spartans also won six corners on the day while the Wildcats only had two.
Tillman was named defensive player of the tournament and junior midfielder Ryan McMahen was named offensive player of the tournament.
They also were named to the all-tournament team. McMahen also earned First Team All-Big Ten.
This was the second meeting between the two teams this year with the Spartans winning the first meeting, 1-0, in East Lansing.
The tournament championship ensures that the Spartans will play in the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Ten Champion is awarded an automatic bid for the champion. The pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced at 4 p.m. today.
"We stayed positive all year," Baum said. "We worked hard and showed a lot of character this weekend and it feels great."
