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No. 15 Spartans open Big Ten play with 2-0 victory

September 26, 2010

Senior defenseman Jake Fullerton celebrates after senior midfielder Spencer Thompson scores a goal off a corner kick Sunday afternoon at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field in the game against Northwestern. The Spartans defeated Northwestern 2-0 in the Big Ten season opener.

Photo by Sam Mikalonis | The State News

There might not have been a movie made about him, but soccer players should be trying to bend it like Thompson.

Senior midfielder Spencer Thompson scored his second corner kick goal of the season, as the No. 15 MSU men’s soccer team opened up Big Ten play with a 2-0 home victory against Northwestern on Sunday.

The Spartans (7-1, 1-0 Big Ten) followed the game plan laid out by head coach Damon Rensing to earn their first conference victory.

“Northwestern tends to sit in a little bit and I thought we did a really good job in the first half of upping the tempo,” Rensing said. “We created a corner, we knew the goalkeeper was a little suspect on that and that was actually a planned corner kick, not necessarily to score right on the corner but to create some congestion and score.”

Thompson scored on his corner kick in the 22nd minute, his third goal of the season and the second time he’s scored on a corner kick. He said the goal for the kick from out-of-bounds wasn’t to score for himself.

“Same play just trying to bend it in a little bit to give our guys a chance,” Thompson said. “I guess the wind took it a little bit and it just seemed to curl and I think the goalie gave me a little bit of help.”

After the goal, the Spartans dropped back a little, giving the defense a task to which it responded, especially defenders senior Colin Givens and junior Kevin Cope, Rensing said.

“Colin and Kevin were great,” he said. “Colin especially today was brilliant, just blocking balls and chasing things down and covering things so he was fantastic.

“And that’s why he shows, to me, that he’s an All-Big Ten caliber defender.”

Cope and Givens were assigned the duty of stopping Northwestern’s top forwards, Oliver Kupe and Matt Eliason. The Spartan backs shut down the Wildcats and helped senior goalie Avery Steinlage to his third shutout of the season — the ultimate goal, Givens said.

“We knew coming into the game Eliason and Kupe were a handful, so we would have to stay tight on those guys,” Givens said. “But we have a lot of experience dealing with a lot of big, physical forwards with our first seven games, so we just treated them the same.”

With MSU letting up on the offensive end, the defense saw more action in the second half. With substitutes providing fresh legs, a breakaway goal by senior midfielder Jeff Ricondo in the 74th minute came as a relief to the team.

“The substitutes … came off when we were starting to look a little tired, making some poor decisions,” Rensing said. “Those guys really came on and jumped us, and yeah, that was a huge second goal.”

The victory against a Northwestern team (3-4, 0-1) that was ranked No. 9 in preseason polls is exactly what MSU wanted, but it’s just the beginning, Givens said.

“It’s a huge win, but it’s just one, we have five more in the Big Ten,” he said. “We started the season 0-3 in the Big Ten last year, so we know even though we’re off to a good start, that all it is (is) a good start.

“We still have to show up for the next five games and bring it, so we’re ready for it.”

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