Sophomore midfielder, Floor Rijpma, runs toward the goal after stealing the ball from Wildcat junior midfielder, Brooke Bercari. Rijpma scored once on four shots.
The offense and defense have aligned for the MSU field hockey team.
Coming back from a 4-3 overtime loss against No. 3 UConn Sept. 14, the No. 6 Spartans (9-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) came back with a vengeance in Saturday’s Big Ten opener against Northwestern (3-5, 0-1) — shutting the Wildcats out 4-0.
The squad did not miss a beat as they kept the momentum going to dominate New Hampshire (6-4) 6-0 Sunday — marking the fourth shutout of the season.
“Last week’s focus has really been working on individual and team defense,” MSU head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said. “That became a little more clear against UConn, but I think we picked it up nicely so I’m very happy as a coach.”
In the team’s last two matchups alone, MSU has taken 49 shots for a combined 10 goals. The defense was right behind them providing an impermeable force allowing only seven unsuccessful shots.
The Spartans got off to a momentum-setting start against New Hampshire with freshman forward Jantine Steinmetz’s goal in the eleventh minute.
“Our forwards were brilliant today,” sophomore back Jeamie Deacon said. “There was a lot of movement up front and at midfield pressing (New Hampshire) from behind, so we got a lot of goals off of tip-ins and rebounds.”
Executing their game plan early in the match was the team’s focus heading into today, Deacon said, noting the team’s scoreless first half against Northwestern.
“We started a bit quicker than we have the last few games,” she said. “We definitely wanted to start stronger and be more focused — taking nothing for granted.”
All six Spartan goals were scored by different players, including a goal by one of the seven substitutes, senior forward Becky Manning.
“We knew that we would be a better team on paper against New Hampshire,” van de Kerkhof said. “But we still had to prove it in the game, where we executed the game plan very well the first half.
“And in the second half, we had a chance to play more players and see where we are in terms of the development of us as a team.”
MSU will be putting their Big Ten matches on hold to play three non-conference games on the road this weekend, starting with a trip to Central Michigan on Wednesday.
“Against Central (Michigan) we will have to become better in converting our chances into goals — finishing,” van de Kerkhof said.
The Spartans return to action Oct. 5.
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