Ann Arbor — Junior midfielder Tim Granaderos couldn’t have dreamt of a better time to score his first collegiate goal. Granaderos’ goal came off a header with 12:27 left in the game to give the MSU men’s soccer team the 1-0 lead — a lead they would hold onto until the end of the game to defeat No. 18 Michigan and keep the Big Bear Trophy in East Lansing.
“We tried to tell the players with 20 minutes left it’s going to come down to one big play and Timmy just made the play of his life,” MSU head coach Joe Baum said.
“He will remember that goal until the day he dies.”
The victory continued the senior’s streak of never losing to Michigan.
Senior midfielder Ben Pirmann couldn’t be happier that his team never lost the rivalry game against the Wolverines.
“This isn’t a fun game,” Pirmann said.
“We hate them and they hate us, so it’s good to win and bring (the trophy) back home.”
It was Pirmann who set up the Spartans’ game-winning goal. He was dribbling the ball down the left side of the field and earned a foul after being wrestled to the ground by a U-M defender. On the ensuing set piece, Pirmann crossed the ball into the 6-yard box.
Cue Granaderos soaring through the air to head the ball into the goal with three Wolverine defenders practically on top of him.
“I saw the ball coming and I didn’t know if I could get to it,” Granaderos said. “I just basically jumped up, closed my eyes and put my head on the ball. I had to look back to see if it actually went in.”
The Spartans (8-5-0 overall, 4-1-0 Big Ten) are tied for first place in the Big Ten and the victory snapped a six-game unbeaten streak for the Wolverines (9-3-2, 1-1-1).
Both the Spartans and the Wolverines lead the Big Ten in goals and total points but Saturday’s meeting proved to be a defensive battle.
Senior defender Josh Rogers wasn’t surprised with the strength of the Spartans’ back line, even when the Wolverines pushed everyone up at the end of the game to try and find the equalizer.
“I thought our defense played well,” Rogers said. “We might have panicked for the last couple minutes, but that’s understandable. We won air balls and we played simple in the back.”
Saturday’s victory was the third straight win MSU has recorded against teams ranked in the top 20 and Baum thinks his team’s hot play is going to lead to a bid in the NCAA Tournament.
“I really believe now with this win/ if we can play well here the next few games, we are looking at an NCAA bid,” Baum said.
“But we still need to get a couple results in the next couple games.”
The Spartans face Cincinnati at 3 p.m. Wednesday at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.
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