After a 5-2-1 start in the non-conference season, the MSU women’s soccer team heads into the Big Ten schedule comfortable with whatever kind of game it might come across. After all, the Spartans already have seen every type of game imaginable.
“We had big games, we had high scoring games, we had ties, we had losses and all that just makes us more prepared to have a really good and challenging Big Ten season,” redshirt senior goalkeeper Nicole Galas said.
“We’re ready for it, and we have as good of a chance as anyone.”
After a stretch in which MSU played three games in five days, head coach Tom Saxton said the Spartans are peaking at the right time as they begin the rigors of Big Ten competition.
“I think we played our best soccer of the year on Sunday (against Central Michigan), so we’ve got the proper momentum,” Saxton said. “Those games also were very demanding physically which is a great preparation for us in the Big Ten.”
While Saxton lists Penn State, Purdue and Illinois as the class of the Big Ten, he also said that parity exists throughout the rest of the conference.
“I’d make those three teams the overall favorites, but each of the other eight teams can beat each other on any given day,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to predict, every game will be a war.”
The Spartans, who went 4-6 in the Big Ten last season, face their first battle Friday at Iowa before traveling to Minnesota on Sunday.
The Hawkeyes and Golden Gophers were the only two teams to finish below the Spartans last year, but Saxton isn’t putting any stock into last season’s results.
“Iowa and Minnesota at their place are very dangerous games,” he said. “We just have to have a grinding mentality, go in there and play good defense, grind it out and see if we can knock in a goal or two and see if we can get some results this weekend.”
Health Check
The Spartans head into the Big Ten season relatively healthy, with senior defender Kelly Hannon as the only player with injury. Hannon broke her nose in Friday’s game against Bowling Green.
“We’re going to need Kelly coming in the back line as a reserve in the tough, physical style that the Big Ten brings, so we’re hoping that she will recover from that broken nose and be able to help us,” Saxton said.
Saxton is unsure of how the injury will affect Hannon’s play this weekend and said it may be a few days before they know how the injury will play out.
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