After being postponed on Sept. 5, No. 7-ranked MSU played the Illinois-Chicago Flames to a 0-0 tie.mThe team now holds a record of 2-0-1 through three games.

“UIC is a hard team to play against, they kind of play low pressure, they’re organized and they don’t open the game up so they’re hard to break down,” head coach Damon Rensing said. “I didn’t think we executed some things from a technical side.... we got the ball in some dangerous areas; we just didn’t make the right pass off to get some shots off, and that’s something we’ll work on this week as we get ready for Valparaiso.”

The Spartans, despite not managing to win on Saturday, still have a lot to build on. The team has not given up a goal through the first three games and a tie still holds more value than a loss, especially against another top-25 opponent in No. 24 UIC.

“Obviously we expect to win every game, but playing a top-25 team on the road and not giving up a goal in a tie (is impressive), especially when you see a lot of the other results that went on in college soccer this weekend, a ton of upsets,” Rensing said.

“I thought we limited the chances for UIC to win the game we probably just didn’t give ourselves enough chances to guarantee a win....at the end of the day we didn’t give up a goal for a third straight game so we took that as a positive.”

The Spartans currently have a better record through three games than they did in the previous season which saw the team break the school record for wins. The team is 2-0-1 compared to 2-1-0 last year.

“Win-loss percentage is an important piece for the RPI which is one of the major factors in the NCAA selection show, so our winning percentage stays higher at 2-0-1 as opposed to 2-1 and a tie against a good UIC team will mean something towards the end of the season,” Rensing said.

MSU’s lone loss through three last season came against the Valparaiso Crusaders, the team the Spartans are slated to play next on Sept. 11. The team will be playing with some added motivation against the Crusaders.

“Valparaiso’s had our number, even though we’ve had success against certain teams, (Valparaiso is) one that we haven’t,” Rensing said. “We certainly have some motivation to come out and get a win. It will be difficult Mike Avery does a really good job there, he’s a good coach. .It should be a very good game on Thursday.”