As East Lansing prepared itself for a prime time football game Saturday night, No. 20 MSU field hockey (7-4 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) was trying to take care of business against the Monmouth Hawks (4-6). MSU was able to notch a valuable Big Ten win over Rutgers on Friday, but Saturday proved to be a bigger test. After falling behind 3-1, MSU came storming back in the second half and beat the Hawks 4-3 in overtime.
"It's been great to get two wins on the road," head coach Helen Knull said. "They were two hard fought. Today we did not play our best game...It wasn't until the last sixteen, seventeen minutes of the game where we really started to turn it on."
With MSU taking the field less than 24 hours after their game in Piscataway, N.J., MU was able to jump all over the Spartans in the early going. Following four big saves by redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sierra Patton and another by a goal post, the Hawks finally capitalized off an MSU turnover.
Once again, the Spartans allowed the opposing team to score first, making it eight games in a row letting that happen. Fortunately, MSU has had a knack for coming back, as proven by their 5-3 record in those games.
"Something's got to click with us that we start setting the tempo from the start of the game," Knull said. "You can't always rally every game and get a win."
Senior back Alli Helwig provided the first response for her team. Following a penalty corner, Helwig was afforded a penalty stroke and tied the game at 1-1.
MSU suffered somewhat of a breakdown heading into the half. During the last five minutes of the half, MU was able to score two goals in order to take a 3-1 lead into the break. Even with the three goals allowed, Patton came up with seven saves in the first half to keep the game in reach for the Spartans.
The second half was controlled by MSU throughout, but they had nothing to show for it as the game started coming to a close. Finally, late in the 60th minute, the Spartans were able to capitalize off a penalty corner and senior forward Allie Ahern scored her seventh goal of the season to make it 3-2 Hawks.
"One we got the one, it's kind of like the floodgates for us started to open," Knull said.
With MSU breathing new life and sensing the comeback, their attack became relentless and then successful. Senior forward Abby Barker scored right at the 65th minute off a deflection to tie the game at 3-3. Ahern recorded the assist and the goal was Barker's team-leading eleventh of the season.
Regulation ended with no more scoring, so MSU headed to their sixth overtime game of the year. Riding the momentum of their late comeback, MSU jumped all over MU in the overtime. Seconds after senior midfielder Becky Stiles nearly won it with a shot off the post, Barker netted her second of the game and twelfth of the season to secure the Spartan victory.
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