Twenty-two minutes into the game, Loyola answered with a goal of their own by Nichole Schiro in the 23rd minute. However, the Spartans answered ten minutes later, as senior midfielder Chelsea Peterson scored from just outside the 18-yard box to put MSU ahead, 2-1.

Senior forward Olivia Stander scored her first goal of the season to put the game away for the Spartans in the 55th minute.

Head Coach Tom Saxton said Loyola came to play and that things got tough very early.

“It was a tough, tough matchup for sure,” he said. “Loyola came and played and impressed us and pressed us pretty early.”

Still, he said the game against Cal State Fullerton on Sunday is going to be much more difficult.

“No disrespect to the three previous opponents, Fullerton is another level on Sunday,” Saxton said. “They’re a Big Ten-level team, so we’re going to see if this young group can rise to the occasion and defend against a team who can keep the ball.”

Mueller echoed the coach’s statements and said she thinks the Spartans came out pretty strong and played a good game.

“The first ten minutes of the game, they pressured us really hard, really fast and we really kept our hands and controlled the ball,” Mueller said. “What I really loved about this game is that we had three different goal scorers again.”

Junior defender Annie Steinlage said the back line handled the early pressure from Loyola well, which contributed to the winning effort.

“I think we knew coming in that they were going to be a high pressure team, so we were mentally prepared for it,” she said. “We did a good job keeping our cool.”

Kassab injured
The Spartans will be without one of their senior defensive leaders for the remainder of the season, as Kelsey Kassab is out with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Steinlage said the Spartan defense wasn’t as strong with the loss of Kassab in the team’s previous game versus Fordham.

“Losing Kelsey Kassab last game we knew we had some big shoes to fill and a lot of different people stepped up,” Steinlage said.

Saxton agreed that the loss of Kassab is a big blow to the MSU team.

“Unfortunately, it’s been confirmed by MRI that (Kassab) tore her ACL and is done for the season,” Saxton said. “That’s devastating and the whole team was taken aback.”