Kelsey Tait, a sophomore midfielder, fights with Detroit Mercy goalkeeper Joanna Hinde, as junior forward Lauren Hill, right, scores her second goal during the second half of Wednesday’s game in Okemos. While originally scheduled for East Lansing, the game was moved after Old College Field flooded. The Spartans won 5-1.
A weekend full of downpours couldn’t stop the Spartans’ season-long dominance.
The MSU women’s soccer team’s patience and willingness to stick it out in the pouring rain and standing water on the field allowed them to enter the Green and White record books — posting their seventh straight victory in a 3-0 win to Kent State on Sunday at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field, the best start in school history.
“This is one we’re really going to remember,” said junior forward Lauren Hill, who recorded a goal and an assist. “We just had to adjust to get the job done and we did that. We got some early goals and it was to our advantage.”
With the soccer ball dying in the water-filled corners of the field and the team’s heavy jerseys weighing them down, freshman defender Katelin Chaklos knew they would have to play through the conditions to become a better team in preparation for the Big Ten season — where MSU has struggled the past two years.
“It was tough and after the warmup, our cleats were soaked and our feet were heavy,” she said. “It made it harder to serve the ball. With our uniforms so wet, we were slower but I don’t think it hurt us any way. I think we played the best we could play in those conditions.”
Two minutes into the game, freshman forward Laura Heyboer skipped a through-pass to Hill who found a sprinting Cara Freeman, who put her already-soaking wet cleat into the ball giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead early.
Then 11 minutes later, at the 13:05 mark, Heyboer ripped a shot at Kent State goaltender Kelly Sherwood, as Hill calmly settled the ball at her feet from eight yards out and blasted it straight on as it deflected off a Golden Flashes’ defender and landed in the top section of the net.
“Our offense was slowed by the weather but I think our team could have a lot of goals today if the rain held off,” MSU head coach Tom Saxton said. “We did talk a lot in the pregame about being physical and have the right attitude about things. We did just that.”
Freeman piled it on again with her sixth goal of the season while lofting a centering pass from deep on the right side of the field which Sherwood couldn’t get a hold on as the ball deflected off her chest, crossed the goal line and stopped in the back of the net — giving MSU a 3-0 lead with 22:02 to play in the half.
Neither team would score again as the weather continued to get sloppier.
“Most fields would have been unplayable early on in the morning but our grounds crew did an unbelievable job — we got through it.” Saxton said. “I thought they managed the situation very well.”
On Friday, the Spartans stomped Western Michigan 3-1 with two Heyboer goals including an assist to her freshman forward teammate Hannah Peterson, who scored her first collegiate goal.
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