Junior defender Kelsey Mullen tries to steal the ball away from Wolverine midfielder Tori McCombs on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012 at the U-M Soccer Stadium in Ann Arbor. The Spartans gained momentum in the first half after scoring a goal, but could not overcome the Wolverines in the end, losing 2-1 in overtime. Julia Nagy/The State News
It was a tale of two halves as the MSU women’s soccer team (8-6-2 overall, 2-5-1 Big Ten) lost to Indiana (8-7-1, 3-5-0) in a thrilling double-overtime game.
The Spartans dominated the Hoosiers in the first half, outshooting them 10-2, but could only come up with six more shots for the rest of the game and overtime.
“With all the play in the first half, we only came away with one goal and were very sluggish, and there’s no excuse for being sluggish in a game that has this much meaning,” head coach Tom Saxton said. “I have not been disappointed with a performance in the Big Ten season until this one.”
The Spartans still got a goal in the first half after freshman forward Allyson Krause knocked in a corner by senior forward Olivia Stander.
Indiana answered in the second half with a goal that was very similar to the one MSU scored.
In overtime, Indiana had most of the possession, outshooting MSU 6-1 and finally cracking through the Spartan defense with a header from two yards out from the goal.
After the game-winning goal, sophomore goalkeeper Courtney Clem stayed down after hitting her head on the goalpost, and Saxton said her status for the next game is undecided.
“There’s two serious to-be-determined (injuries),” Saxton said. “(Sophomore forward) Paige Wester’s knee and Courtney Clem’s head because, obviously, we’re very concerned about concussions. Paige did get whacked very good, and we weren’t able to put her back in, but we’ll know more this week.”
Although the team didn’t get the result they wanted, Krause has a very strong game, recording six shots and three shots on goal to go along with her goal, but was still frustrated with the way the team played.
“Individually, it was frustrating, especially after missing that breakaway,” Krause said. “I tried keeping my composure, which is hard, and trying to keep the team together and staying with it, but that didn’t happen.”
Freshman midfielder Sarah Kovan might have said it best when asked how she felt after the game.
“It sucks,” Kovan said. “We came off a hard loss against Michigan, so it’s hard to turn around completely and play another hard game on Sunday, and we just didn’t play like we needed to, and they got the better of us.”
She said that it’s going to be a challenge for the team to recover for the rest of the season.
“You just have to get your head up at this point,” she said. “We have three games left in the Big Ten, and so it’s all mental right now. You get going, and you get on this losing streak, so you find a way to cut yourself off.”
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