In 2012, San Diego State had the best season in its history with a 21-2-1 record and advanced to the Sweet 16 to make its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance, while MSU struggled to finish 8-9-2.

“We’re going to be in for a hell of a challenge,” Saxton said. “San Diego State is a top team, it’ll be good for us.”

San Diego State will make the trip to East Lansing for the first time ever and will bring a considerable amount of talent from last season’s team, including seven returning starters. In her three years as an Aztec, defenseman Haley Palmer has piled up awards, including being named a Preseason All-American by Soccer America.

With one of the top defensemen in the nation, MSU, who had one of the worst scoring offense in the NCAA last season, will try to carry over their hot offensive attack from last weekend. In 2012, the Spartans averaged just 1.26 goals per game, however, they already notched seven goals in two games against Buffalo and Milwaukee.

“We had trouble scoring last year and getting five goals (against Milwaukee) was pretty awesome on the first weekend,” senior defenseman and team captain Kelsey Mullen said. “That’s usually our problem.”

So far this season, MSU already has had to deal with injuries to midfielder/forward Lisa Vogel and forward Paige Wester, who left games last weekend to leg injuries.

The Aztecs return their second-leading scorer from last season, forward and 2012 All-Mountain West performer Hannah Keane.SB Keane, who had seven goals and seven assists last season,SB will be joined by all-conference defenseman Carli JohnsonSb and forward/midfielder Kelsey Booth.SB

With the Spartans focused on their goal of a Big Ten championship and NCAA Tournament bid, junior goalkeeper Courtney ClemSB said this will be the perfect game to face top competition before heading into Big Ten play.

But MSU associate head coach Tammy FarnumSB said no matter who the opponent, the focal point needs to be on her own team.

“We always try to focus on ourselves first, no matter what the opponent is,” Farnum said. “We are well aware of the great tradition at San Diego and the team they have coming back.

“We’re a young team but we’re going to focus doing what we do well. We came off a great weekend with some scoring opportunities. We feel like we’ll have the opportunity to do that again this weekend, but that’s going to come with a mindset of making sure we’re prepared and organized behind the ball to create our offensive opportunities.”

On Sunday, MSU will travel to face Dayton where the Spartan’s defense will be in for a tough matchup. Last season, Dayton led the entire NCAA in scoring, with nearly three goals a game, and return two of the top scorers in the nation, midfielders Juliana Libertin and Ashley Campbell.