“It was a good college soccer game against a nationally ranked team,” Saxton said. “We played end to end with them and it comes down to plays in the box, it always does in our sport, and they made them and we didn’t.

“Some of it was just execution by tired young players and some of it was bad luck.”

Wisconsin tacked on the first goal midway through the first half when Wisconsin midfielder Kinley McNicoll sent a hard shot toward junior goalkeeper Courtney Clem.

Clem was able to get a hand on it, but it ricocheted off the post and went in to give the Badgers an early lead.

MSU had a few good looks at goal in the second, but were unable to take advantage.

In the 68th minute, freshman midfielder Marisa Oleksiak was running toward the net and got a hard shot off but it just missed and deflected off of the cross bar.

Junior midfielder Megan Marsack also came close to finding the net. She hit a weak dribbler toward the goal and would’ve got past Wisconsin goalkeeper Genevieve Richard, but rolled about a foot to the right of the post.

“We had the same amount of chances they had, they finished theirs and we didn’t,” Clem said.

With MSU’s chances still intact, the Spartans received a momentum killer when senior midfielder/ defender Kelsey Mullen fouled a Wisconsin player inside the box.

McNicoll lined up for the penalty kick and knocked it past Clem for her second goal of the game and her sixth goal of the season.

“Those kinds of situations when you miss something at one end and give something up at the other end can usually break the team’s spirits, but we kept fighting down the stretch so that’s a credit to our kids,” Saxton said.

Unlike Sunday, in Friday’s match against Minnesota, the Spartans took advantage of the offensive opportunities with Marsack, sophomore forward Allyson Krause and sophomore defender Mary Kathryn Fiebernitz all tallying goals.

This weekend also saw the return of junior forward Paige Wester. Wester has been out since the first game of the season when she injured her knee against Buffalo. She played in her first game against Minnesota and started in her first game against Wisconsin.

“It’s hard to get back into it and get back into shape,” Wester said after Friday’s game. “I’ve only been practicing for a few days so the game was really different than practice, so it was nice getting back healthy.”

The Spartans will return to action 3 p.m. Thursday at DeMartin Stadium against archrival No. 13 Michigan (7-2-1, 1-1-1). Michigan lost its first Big Ten match against Minnesota on Sunday, 1-0.