“(That shot was) meant to be a cross, but I’ll take it,” Stern said.

Toldeo controlled the tempo of the game in short spurts after Stern’s goal, pushing the ball past midfield into Spartan territory several times. After a Toledo throw that led to a Spartan steal, MSU was called offside, giving the Rockets another chance on offense.

They finally were able to tie the game with a goal of their own by freshman forward Nicole Gyurgyik with under two minutes to play.

Gyurgyik broke up the left sideline and unleashed a high crossing shot from about halfway inside the box that found the back of the net.

“That’s a funny scenario in women’s soccer,” MSU head coach Tom Saxton said.

“(Gyurgyik) has hit a couple like that ­— she just hit a bomb and caught our goalie by surprise. You don’t want to let those kind of goals in, but it happens.”

Saxton said although his team’s play in the second half was better, its first half performance left something to be desired.

“I thought we were very erratic the first half-hour,” he said. “(I was) disappointed in our lack of organization on the field. We thought we fixed some things at halftime and we were certainly much better than the first half an hour (in the second half), but overall I characterized it as an inconsistent performance.”

Saxton said the Spartans definitely have room to improve on Saturday’s play as a result.
“We’ve tried to take a little bit of a step at a time this spring,” he said.

“We have to continue to take steps and the main thing is we have to get a 90-minute effort out of everybody.”

Saxton emphasized that increasing communication between players will be a key for the Spartans going forward into both the fall season and next week’s exhibition contest against Central Michigan University.

“We’re really just working on our connections on the field, both communication in terms of how we organize, (and) connecting passing wise as we’re coming out of the back,” he said. “Those connections have to be better, more consistent, and that starts with communication.”