For the seniors, losing their last game isn’t the ideal way to go out, but Steinmetz said she’s looking beyond the score.

“I’m really disappointed still that we lost, and that will stay for a while,” she said. “But when you think of it in a different way, it doesn’t matter because my team showed that we can compete with the No. 3 team in the nation, and we worked really hard for that all season.”

Despite losing to the Cavaliers (18-3) in the tournament for the second year in a row, the Spartans (15-6) said they took pride in their performance.

“We played our best hockey in the year 2010 this past Saturday,” head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Molly Cassidy made 13 saves in the game, and redshirt junior back Angie Lucik and senior midfielder Sabine van den Assem scored MSU’s two goals.

“(We) laid everything out there,” Cassidy said. “We didn’t get the result, but … we were confident, and we didn’t have to look back and wonder, ‘Could we have done better?’”

After struggling during the regular season to play as a unit, Steinmetz said the team finished the season with strong chemistry, which was evident during the postseason.

“As a senior, I could not have asked for a better last game because everyone showed heart, and we were one team out there,” Steinmetz said. “That means so much more than getting the regional (win) in the end.”

The Spartans said they struggled to find their groove after graduating some of their top scorers last season.

Their four regular season losses came from Kent State, then-No. 19 Michigan, then-No. 16 Penn State and then-No. 6 Ohio State.

With Kent State defeating MSU, 2-0, on Sept. 17 — its first loss of the season — van de Kerkhof said the weekend stands out because of the team’s ability to quickly recover and control then-No. 13 Boston University, 6-1, the next day.

“We (didn’t) prepare for Kent State, and therefore, they showed us how to play hockey,” he said. “And then within 24 hours, we just dominated a very strong Boston University.”

Steinmetz said the team was able to regroup from the bumps in the road and use them to improve consistently throughout the season.

“After every game, we talked about what went wrong, what we can do better next game,” Steinmetz said. “I think where we ended up, head-to-head with the No. 3 team in the nation, that was possible because we went through those ups and downs.”

While it was a challenge for the Spartans to view each game individually and come away as stronger and smarter players, Cassidy said they eventually started to build on each performance.

This season, MSU experienced problems converting scoring chances into goals, scoring one or less goals in eight regular season games. Van den Assem led the Spartans with 12 goals this season, while Steinmetz had 11, and sophomore midfielder Kristen Henn posted 9.

While seniors led statistically, van de Kerkhof said their team leadership brought everyone together. It helped MSU go from not winning any games last spring to competing against one of the nation’s top teams in the NCAA Tournament.

“We grew as a team throughout the regular season and the Big Ten Tournament season, and we put something great together for the NCAAs this year,” van de Kerkhof said. “We fell short … but they will be remembered as helping the tradition to continue and for building a great foundation for next year’s class.”