With no games from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, the men’s soccer team (5-1-2 overall, 1-0-1 Big Ten) will be well-rested on Oct. 4 against the Ohio State Buckeyes (3-3-3 overall, 1-1-0 Big Ten).
“We’re off mid-week, which is a huge rest for our guys ... we’re preparing for a big conference game against Ohio State,” head coach Damon Rensing said.
Junior midfielder Jason Stacy wants the team to come out with a must-win, especially considering the next game is a conference matchup.
“Ohio State is always a good team, it’s a little bit of a rivalry,” Stacy said. “Big Ten games are extremely difficult to win no matter who you’re playing, so we’ve got to come in with a really tough mentality that we’re not going to lose the game. We’re going to put the ball in the back of the net and we’re going to do everything we can to get a result.”
After recording seven shutouts in eight games, the team will look to get the offense going. The Spartans have scored only seven goals in eight games, with three of the seven coming against Florida International on Aug. 31. The team hasn’t scored more than one goal in any other game this season.
“That’s a good Ohio State team, they’ve done well so far this year,” Rensing said. “It’s going to be a tough place to play but we’ve got a mature team, a veteran team and all we have to worry about is going in there and playing some good soccer.”
This Buckeye team has given up eight goals this season compared to just one for MSU. The MSU defense will be looking for the shutout to give junior goalkeeper Zach Bennett lone possession of the record for most career saves at MSU, after he earned his 23rd to tie the record on Sept. 28 in a 0-0 tie against Rutgers.
After the matchup with Ohio State in Columbus, the team will head back home to play Akron (4-3-1 overall) on Oct. 7 and then conference opponent Wisconsin (1-5-1 overall, 0-2-0 Big Ten) on Oct. 11.
The extra rest this week for the Spartans will come in handy as the team’s next three games stretch covers a period of just eight days. The three-game stretch will be a big test for MSU with two of the three being conference games.
