For the MSU women’s soccer team Friday at BYU, it felt as if they were taking the first segment of drivers’ training all over again — that first time pulling out onto a main road and pressing on the pedal to accelerate to 40 miles per hour — making your heart beat harder and faster as the speed continues to grow.
“We knew that this was going to be a tough game for us,” MSU head coach Tom Saxton said about the team’s first loss of the season in Provo, Utah. “I knew this game was going to be played at about 80 miles per hour. The pace of the game was incredible, and it took us about 10 minutes (into the game) before we got things sorted out.
“They just came at us and were very physical and an athletic team.”
The 2-0 loss snapped MSU’s eight-game winning steak.
“It was an adjustment, an eye-opener playing at that level for us,” senior midfielder Kristi Timar said. “I know we’re capable of playing at that level, I just think we’ve played some teams prior to them that played a lot slower and this brought us back to reality at the level we need to be at.”
The perfect transition
Scheduling BYU right before the Big Ten season wasn’t an accident.
No — it was done for one particular reason. A reason the team knows and completely agrees with.
“BYU is a big stepping stone for us moving into the Big Ten season here on Friday,” senior defender Kelley Amormino said. “We are excited to start the Big Ten season and having played BYU will only help us for that.”
And if the quick play and versatile competition aren’t reasons enough to get excited for conference play, perhaps the possibility of large, booming road crowds will do it.
More than 2,200 fans filled BYU’s stands Friday evening — 300 more fans than all five Spartans games combined.
“It was a great setting for college soccer and one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever coached in front of,” Saxton said. “It was an electric setting. It was the ‘big stage’ as the way I look at it.
“Our kids took a little time to adjust, but we were playing with them and continuing to get better and improve from teams like that will lead to a successful Big Ten season.”
Power in numbers
With a highly talented freshman class and fundamentally sound reserves, Saxton has looked to his bench early on.
And compared to last year’s outcome and lack of scoring – it’s working.
Senior goalkeeper Lindsey Wrege said she has become a lot more vocal, letting her presence be known to her team.
Along with that, she’s seen an immediate positive response from her teammates, like Amormino.
“Everyone speaks up and even our freshmen have been stepping up big for us,” Amormino said. “We’re really going to need them in the Big Ten season. It’s all those little things that have led to our early success. We’ve been working on staying tight and compact and staying alert.”
Although just four Spartans scored all of last season, six already have scored in nine games — totaling 27 goals – nine more than all 19 of last year’s contests.
Support student media!
Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
Entering Big Ten action Friday, MSU has outscored its opponents 27-5, averaging three goals a game compared to the competitors’ 0.56 — as well as taking almost five more shots per contest.
The Spartans have racked up 32 assists on those 27 goals, while their opponents have had three all year.
MSU hosts Minnesota at 4 p.m. Friday at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.
Discussion
Share and discuss “Spartans regroup for Big Ten play following first loss” on social media.
