“(We need to) work on communicating with ourselves on the field more, but today I definitely think we showed all over the field people stepped up, a lot of different people scored which is nice,” Van Poppelen said.

The Spartans received some help from Milwaukee’s defense as well. After Lincicum saved a shot by sophomore forward Allyson Krause, the ball deflected off a Milwaukee defender for an own goal to put MSU up 2-0.

Coming back from halftime, MSU continued to pile on and added three insurance goals within 10 minutes of each other.

Redshirt freshman midfielder Jessica White joined the scoring attack with a breakaway goal followed by two blasts from 20 yards out by freshman midfielder Oleksiak and Krause.

Van Poppelen led the offensive attack with a goal and two assists, and Krause added with a goal and assist as well. Also assisting goals were junior forward/midfielder Lisa Vogel, redshirt freshman midfielder Erica Goodenough and junior midfielder Megan Marsack.

With the injuries looming on the team, Saxton said Van Poppelen will be a big asset to the team. After a great spring, Saxton said she got tired in two-a-days and wasn’t as sharp.

“We challenged her and she bounced back and has been impressive ever since,” Saxton said. “She will be very important to us especially with some of the injuries.”

Despite a strong offense, the Spartan’s defense slipped up midway through the second half and couldn’t hold on to the shutout. Milwaukee’s Maria Stephans capitalized on a penalty shot to put the Panthers on the board. Six minutes later in the 79th minute, Milwaukee scored again when forward Taylor Swittel got a shot past Spartan junior goalkeeper Courtney Clem.

Other than the two quick goals late in the game, head coach Tom Saxton was proud of the way his team played, especially after a tough battle against Buffalo on Friday night.

“On Sunday games (after) we’ve both had tough Friday games, it typically when we get tired leg syndrome,” Saxton said. “We’re coming off a long preseason, and we’re pleased the way they communicated together.

“Milwaukee showed some danger right off the gates. We thought we adjusted to them well and very opportunistic offensively.”

The Spartans will be at DeMartin Stadium again Friday night when they face a tough test against the No. 11 San Diego State Aztecs, but might be without one of their starters.

In the 23rd minute of Sunday’s game, Vogel left the game with an injury and didn’t return.

Saxton said his team will be in for a tough test against a top team in the nation, but could get even tougher if they need to replace Vogel.

“We won’t know anything about that until we come back together on Tuesday,” Saxton said. “We’ll need to figure out who’s going to play where if we replace starters. We’re going to be in for a hell of a challenge. San Diego State is a top team, it’ll be good for us.”