With a Big Ten showdown against Northwestern looming on the horizon, the MSU men's soccer team could easily have looked past its Wednesday opponent, Valparaiso.
Instead, the Spartans came out and played suffocating defense from the first whistle to the last, crushing the Crusaders, 2-0, at Old College Field.
"Today was what we call a Spartan effort," MSU head coach Joe Baum said. "We came out with some energy, I thought we defended well, we kept working and the offense found a way to develop."
The win extends MSU's winning streak over Valparaiso to six games.
After a sluggish start to the game, MSU (8-5-2 overall) stepped up the tempo midway through the first half and came after Valparaiso goalkeeper Ryan Schwarz with a heavy attack, but the Crusaders were able to hold the Spartans at bay.
Then, in the 22nd minute, senior defender Greg Janicki picked up a rebound and rifled a shot into the top left corner of the goal to give MSU a 1-0 edge. It was Janicki's first goal of the season.
"That was huge, especially against these smaller conference teams," senior midfielder Matt Kreikemeier said. "The longer they can stay in it tied, the more confidence they get and the harder it is on us, so to get one early was huge for us."
The Spartans are now 8-1-1 when scoring the first goal this season.
MSU controlled the ball for the rest of the half, peppering the Crusaders goal with 12 shots.
With MSU controlling the play, Valparaiso (7-7-0) appeared frustrated and started to take those frustrations out on the Spartans, picking up 16 fouls, four yellow cards and one red card. The red card came midway through the second half and put Valparaiso down a man for the remainder of the match.
"They have a bunch of guys over 6 feet. They played hard, went into their tackles hard, but we're tough too. We're all right," Kreikemeier said with a smile.
With a one-goal lead and a man advantage, the Spartans played a tight, ball-control game and limited the Crusaders to just three shots in the second half.
"The defense played so solid in front of me," said senior goalkeeper Jason Tillman, who earned his seventh shutout of the season. "Actually, everyone in front of me played very solid today. It made my job a whole lot easier. I'm really happy with how the defenders played."
The Spartans put the game away with just a little more than 11 minutes remaining with a goal by Kreikemeier. Junior midfielders Ben Pirmann and Kevin Reiman assisted.
The Spartans now go into Sunday's game against Northwestern on a two-game winning streak. It will be the final home game of the season for MSU.
