The No. 10 MSU field hockey team got the key wins it needed to lock up a spot in the NCAA Tournament by beating No. 8 Penn State and Central Michigan.
Penn State lived up to its reputation of being tough on defense, as the Nittany Lions held MSU to three shots in the first half.
The game started slow, as both teams felt each other out and got into the flow of the game. Only eight shots were fired in the first half, with four corners between the teams.
MSU managed to keep Penn State’s Allison Scola in check for the first half but Scola squeaked loose as the second half began.
The senior midfielder intercepted a pass on the left side of the field and streaked through the circle shooting the ball past MSU goalkeeper Elissa Unger to put the Nittany Lions up 1-0.
But a penalty corner would even the game for the Spartans as Floor Rijpma tipped in a goal to make the score 1-1.
The game was back and forth after that as the teams tried to end the game in regulation.
But near the end of the game it was clear the MSU press was getting to the Lions. The Spartans created a lot of opportunities off of bad Penn State passes, and with about a minute left, found themselves deep in the Penn State half of the field.
Sophomore midfielder forward Angela Pagura took the ball up the right side of the circle, shooting the ball on net where senior forward Gwen Riley tipped it on the goalie. The ball bounced in front of the empty net where sophomore forward Jantine Steinmetz pushed it in the cage with only 25 seconds remaining to give MSU a 2-1 win.
“You don’t have a feeling, you just go through it and I saw it and said this is my chance to just get it in, but it was a team effort,” Steinmetz said.
Head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said the win was probably the most important of the season.
“We’ve been struggling the last couple games and if you want to keep your NCAA considerations alive you have to win against Penn State today,” van de Kerkhof said. “Excited about the win I think we could have done it a little easier and earlier, but we pulled it out and we learned from it.
“This is a huge win, as I mentioned earlier I think this is the most important game of our season so far, that you get the win against Penn State just won outright the Big Ten and we ruin their perfect Big Ten season is just giving extra energy to our players heading in to postseason play.”
The team followed up the effort with a 2-0 win at Central Michigan to wrap up the regular season. Steinmetz was again involved, assisting on both goals, the first to senior forward Michelle Ciliberti and the second to Riley.
The team moves on to the Big Ten Tournament in Bloomington, Ind., next week with the Spartans holding the No. 3 seed.
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