With a 2-0 record after the season's first weekend, the MSU men's soccer team faced its first true test of the season Friday against No. 3 New Mexico in the opening round of the MSU/Radisson Fall Classic. With tough defense and a timely save from senior goalkeeper Jason Tillman, the Spartans passed the test, upsetting the Lobos 1-0.
After a tight first half, the Spartans broke through after a New Mexico player was sent to the bench with a red card.
Junior forward Kenzo Webster took a pass from junior forward Doug DeMartin and deposited it into the net, giving MSU the deciding goal.
Tillman made three saves to pick up his 14th career shutout.
It was the Spartans biggest win since upsetting Indiana in the semifinals of the 2004 Big Ten Tournament.
On Sunday, the team looked to carry that momentum over to its game against Northern Illinois.
After battling for 109 minutes and with a tie in sight in double overtime, Northern Illinois did a little stunning of its own, booting in the game-winning goal with less than 20 seconds left to hand the Spartans their first loss of the season, 1-0 at Old College Field.
"Pure and simple, when you get chances to finish a team off and you don't score and you leave them in the game, you're inviting disaster and that's what happened," MSU head coach Joe Baum said. "I thought in the second half and the first overtime we played well, moved the ball well and created good chances, but we didn't finish."
A mistake by an MSU defender led to a throw-in for Northern Illinois, and during a mad scramble in front of the net, Marcus McCarty knocked the ball into the upper left corner, sending Northern Illinois' players and bench into a celebratory pile in the corner of the field.
"One of the defenders, instead of clearing the ball, tried to get cute with it. They got the throw in and bingo, they scored off the throw in," Baum said.
Baum wasn't upset with the defensive effort, but said the offense left a lot to be desired.
"How many minutes can you shut people out?" he said. "It's just crazy to defend and be able to inter-pass and not be able to capitalize on chances."
DeMartin and sophomore midfielder Zac Scaffidi had several chances for the Spartans but couldn't convert. DeMartin had the best chance, pushing a header just wide with less than 12 minutes to play in the second half.
The Spartans are off until Friday when they play Virginia Commonwealth at 5 p.m. in Ann Arbor at the Michigan Invitational.
