“All week we emphasized defense, defense, defense and I thought we defended really well today,” Baum said. “I was really happy with the defensive effort. (It was) just kind of a blue collar win and that’s what we are all about.”

Sophomore midfielder Jeff Ricondo scored the lone goal of the game after senior midfielder Ben Pirmann played a long ball to senior forward Louis Stephens III. Senior forward Doug DeMartin could have played the ball, but he instead chose to shield his defender off the ball and provide a clear lane for Stephens.

Stephens charged down the left side of the field and made a light pass backwards and across the face of goal when he got to the end line. Ricondo was making a far-post run and was left completely unmarked. Stephens slid Ricondo the ball and he drilled it past the goalkeeper from about 10 yards out.

“Louis got the ball on the left side of the field and he drew everyone towards him,” Ricondo said. “After he beat them, basically the whole box was open and I was able to make that run.”

The Spartans (2-3) hadn’t had a lead since eight minutes into last Friday’s game against New Mexico and Baum knew the first goal of the match would be critical.

“(Getting the first goal) helps because a lot of these teams when they score early pack it in on us,” Baum said. “Believe me, that’s a relief to get that early goal.”

The game got off to a quick start for the Spartans as they were able to earn an indirect free-kick in Buffalo’s 18-yard box. A Buffalo defender played the ball back to their goalkeeper and he made the mistake of picking up it up, but the Spartans were unable to convert, as the Buffalo wall charged and blocked the shot.

At the 27-minute mark in the first half, Buffalo (4-1) almost found the equalizer. MSU sophomore goalkeeper Avery Steinlage mis-kicked the ball off a back pass, and it went right to a Buffalo striker. Steinlage was caught out of position and the ball was fired by him, but it drilled the post.

Then with four minutes left in the first half, freshman Domenic Barone was taken down from behind and Buffalo midfielder Alex Marrello was given a yellow card for the challenge. MSU sophomore defender Colin Givens took the free kick from just inside half field. A seemingly harmless play turned into a serious scoring chance for the Spartans as DeMartin was able to elevate and get his head on the ball to flick it over the Buffalo goalkeeper. The ball had the keeper beat, but it rattled off the crossbar and went over the net.

The Spartans kept the pressure going towards the end of the half and with under a minute left senior midfielder Zac Scaffidi and DeMartin played the ball between each other as they weaved all the way from their midfield into the Buffalo 18-yard box and eventually won a corner kick. Freshman Cyrus Saydee played an in-swinger on the ensuing corner, but the Spartans couldn’t get on the end of it.

When the second half started, Buffalo came out with a new sense of urgency. The first 10 minutes of the half were played in MSU’s end of the field with Buffalo maintaining most of the possession.

With 12 minutes gone in the half, Buffalo earned a free kick near midfield and they opted to drive the ball into MSU’s 18-yard box. Steinlage went up aggressively to snag the ball, but in the process he landed on senior defender Josh Rogers. Rogers was taken off the field, and while the medical staff assessed Rogers’ injury, Baum went out on the field to talk to his
defense.

“I told them everything was alright,” Baum said. “Josh is kind of our defensive leader and to lose him shook them up a little bit. But I told them, ‘we’re fine, just calm down and focus on the game,’”

Baum’s quick pep-talk inspired new life into the back line and minutes later the Spartans were able to regain solid possession and form an attack. Rogers also returned to the defense five minutes after coming out of the game.

But Buffalo was determined to keep the ball in MSU’s end as they looked for the equalizer. They maintained possession for most of the half and kept the Spartans on their heels.

With four minutes left in the game, Buffalo earned a free kick just outside the top of 18-yard box slightly to the left of the goal. The ball found its way around the Spartans wall but Steinlage fully extended to his left and was able to get a hand on it to keep it from going into the back of the net.

The Spartans were able to kill the rest of the clock and escape with the win.

Scaffidi credits the defensive focus during this week’s practices for the close victory.

“We’ve been priding ourselves on defense all week,” Scaffidi said. “Holding onto a slim lead is a little stressful when they are just pumping the ball down our throats. But we took everything they threw at us and I thought we defended fantastic.”

The Spartans will play Illinois-Chicago on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and Scaffidi knows Friday’s win was huge for the team morale.

“We got a little bit behind the eight ball in the start of the season and I think this is a great turning point for us,” Scaffidi said. “I think we took a step in the right direction today.”