“We were very disappointed after the Indiana loss,” Saxton said. “I think (the Hoosiers) probably outplayed us, but they scored very late in the game so we had to do a lot of regrouping on Saturday, and I was very proud of the way we responded against one of the best teams in the conference.”

The Boilermakers (7-2-3, 2-0-2) jumped on the Spartans early when Sylvia Forbes scored the game’s first goal at the 18:39 minute mark on a header off a free kick from the right side.

MSU answered less than five minutes into the second half when sophomore midfielder Hannah Peterson scored her first goal of the season on a shot from just inside the penalty box to the top of the net.

After making a career-high 12 saves against Indiana, sophomore goalkeeper Jill Flietstra turned in another solid game with eight saves. Overall, the Boilermakers outshot the Spartans 31-14, but Saxton came away happy with the weekend outcome.

“We left a few out there and we had some breakaways near the end that we could have capitalized on, yet as we talked off the field I think all of us felt pretty good,” he said.