“Moving into the halfway mark of the season, it just gives us a chance to step away and refresh us,” head coach Tom Saxton said after practice Thursday. “We had good, hard practices, today we backed off and game planned and did some research, so I feel like we’re in a good spot.

However, Saxton said after last week’s loss against Nebraska that there is still work to be done as the Big Ten season heats up.

The Spartans have faced a bit of difficulty finishing shots this season and will need to find more ways to score to be successful in the Big Ten.

“We have to make better decisions with our attacking patterns,” Saxton said. “A little bit of credit goes to Nebraska and their organization. We forced the play a lot and that’s why we didn’t have a very good offensive game last week.”

This season is shaping up similarly to last year, and this weekend will determine how much the team has grown since last season.

In 2012, the Spartans started out 6-1-1 in non-conference play before finishing 8-9-2 for the season because of a lousy Big Ten showing.

For sophomore midfielder Sarah Kovan, the Spartans will need extra preparation for the Big Ten season with five teams currently ranked or receiving votes in the Top 25 polls.

“Just coming out as a team and knowing every game in the Big Ten is going to be really hard and to make sure we’re all there mentally prepared and that we’re all in it together,” Kovan said. “We (need to) go forward together and we defend together and we play a full 90 minutes.”

One of the main goals of this year’s team is a Big Ten championship and a NCAA Tournament berth. Several players have said this season that the goals are in reach, especially with the unity and hunger of this year’s squad compared to last season’s.

Senior defender and team captain Kelsey Mullen said the Spartans still are in a good spot in the Big Ten since they only have one loss on their record.

“We just need to focus on the future and what’s ahead of us and not dwell on the loss,” Mullen said. “We’re still really good, that was our first loss, we’ve still got lots to come.”

Out for the year

For the second straight year, junior midfielder/forward Lisa Vogel will sit out the majority of the season.

In the second game of the season, Vogel got tangled up with a Milwaukee player near midfield and left the game with a knee injury.

First expected to be out only a couple of weeks, Saxton announced Thursday that Vogel will be given a medical redshirt and will sit out the rest of the season. He said she is having her knee scoped out and there wasn’t enough time for her to come back this season.

Junior forward Paige Wester injured her knee in the first game of the season against Buffalo and was expected to be back for this weekend’s games.

Saxton said the lineup is unclear this weekend, with a couple other injuries that aren’t long term, but could not comment on them specifically.