The seniors on the men’s soccer team ended their regular season career at DeMartin Soccer Stadium on a low note.
The Spartans (9-4-4 overall , 3-2-2 Big Ten ) lost to the Michigan Wolverines (6-7-3 overall , 3-2-2 Big Ten ) 3-2 on senior day in East Lansing on Sunday.
“I don’t think we made enough defensive plays,” redshirt senior defender Ryan Keener said. “Credit to our offense — scoring two goals, usually that’s enough to win for us.”
Michigan took the early lead, scoring at the 7:27 mark on a goal by redshirt senior midfielder Tyler Arnone , giving the Wolverines a 1-0 lead. The goal by Arnone was only the third first-half goal MSU has given up all season.
The Spartans equalized at the 14:01 mark on a goal by senior forward Adam Montague on an assist by junior midfielder Jay Chapman and sophomore midfielder Dewey Lewis , making it 1-1. The goal by Montague hit a Wolverine defender before taking a bounce and floating above Michigan senior goalkeeper Adam Grinwis’ head and dropping in.
The Spartans weren’t done in the first half, sending another one through at the 37:27 mark , making it 2-1 MSU on a goal by Chapman on an assist by junior midfielder Jason Stacy and redshirt senior forward and midfielder Tim Kreutz.
“I think I did OK for myself, obviously maybe I could have done a little more,” Chapman said. “I think as a team we definitely played good enough to win. Credit to Michigan — they played well, and they finished their chances.”
The second half allowed the Wolverines to regroup, and at the 53:22 mark Michigan equalized, making it 2-2 on a goal by freshman forward Ahinga Selemani on an assist by junior midfielder and forward William Mellors-Blair.
The Wolverines came out on fire in the second half, scoring another goal less than five minutes later at the 57:17 mark. Michigan’s third goal of the game came from redshirt junior midfielder Colin McAtee off of an assist by Selemani, giving the Wolverines a 3-2 lead.
“It was a really tough loss, you know, it’s senior day,” junior goalkeeper Zach Bennett said. “The offense did score two (goals), so we can’t put too much (of this loss) on them. I put a lot of the loss on me.”
The third goal would prove too much for the Spartans offense as they could not equalize. MSU next plays against Indiana (11-2-4 overall , 3-2-2 Big Ten ) on Wednesday in their final regular season game.
