“I think what’s important for us is that we revisit the points that we were exposed to at Northwestern, versus (Northwestern) and Wake (Forest),” head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said. “We’ve been working on that, I think we will be better prepared in those areas.”

The team, now 12-2 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten, spent the last part of practice working on their corner technique in hopes it will be better executed in this weekend’s games at Michigan and at home against Ohio.

U-M (7-7, 2-1) has had a tough year, but is no stranger to facing top-five teams. The Wolverines have faced Maryland, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Connecticut, whom all were ranked in the top five when they faced them, though they were all losses.

Ohio (6-8, 4-2) is doing well in the Mid-American Conference but is just coming off a tough 4-0 loss at No. 5 Duke.

“It seems that they both struggle this year compared to the previous years,” van de Kerkhof said. “Michigan is an in-state rivalry and you don’t have to say too much if you play each other to get your team fired up.”

Sophomore forward Jantine Steinmetz said the team’s extra work in practice should pay off against U-M.

“We’re always looking forward to playing a team like Michigan, our biggest rival,” Steinmetz said. “The atmosphere is good, everyone is really excited, it was a good practice. If we continue with this we should be fine.”

The last time the Spartans played a home game after a road game the night before, they looked fatigued in a 3-2 overtime win against No. 15 California. They recorded their first Big Ten victory of the season at Ohio State the night before.

This time the team is more prepared, van de Kerkhof said.

“The turnaround time is still the same, but it’s more convenient for us because it’s only one hour return instead of the four hours out of Columbus,” van de Kerkhof said. “We’ve been training … so we’ve become more familiar with it.”