First Half

Just three minutes into the match, freshman midfielder Sadie Waite was carried off the field by Nebraska trainers. She later returned to the game.

The Cornhuskers controlled most of the possession throughout the beginning of the first 45 but MSU would soon find its offensive rhythm off the boot of a familiar scorer.

Graduate student forward Camryn Evans broke the stalemate halfway through the first half with a beautiful juke to free herself for a bottom right strike just out of the reach of junior goalkeeper Sami Hauk. Freshman midfielder Courtney Koehler was credited with the assist.

Evans, who had been a player mentioned by Head Coach Jeff Hosler as one that needed to get back on the scoresheet, found herself one-on-one five minutes after her goal with Hauk, but the keeper made an impressive sliding stop to keep the deficit at one for the Cornhuskers.

10 minutes later though, Nebraska came right back with a score of their own to level the match at one a piece. Junior forward Eleanor Dale headed a shot in the bottom left corner of the net past redshirt senior goalkeeper Lauren Kozal. Sophomore defender/midfielder Jordan Zade was awarded the assist.

Junior midfielder Regan Dalton had a good look in the last five minutes of the half, but again Hauk stuck her mit out and forced an MSU corner. Nothing came from the kick though and the rest of the half followed suit.

Second Half

Evans started off the second half with another good look at goal but Hauk stopped her shot in its tracks.

The first 20 minutes of play in this half went back and forth as both offenses could not get by the brick walls in net.

Most notably, Kozal denied a corner entry by the Cornhuskers then bounced right back up to stop a subsequent shot from Nebraska 20 minutes in. She finished the match with five saves.

65 minutes in, Koehler put her name on the scoresheet once more by finally getting a shot by Hauk to put the Spartans back up by one. Junior forward Ranya Senhaji placed the ball perfectly down the left side for the freshman.

Junior forward/defender MJ Andrus later found herself past Hauk, but had a tough angle on the left side of the goal on her shot and could not boot it in at the 76 minute mark. 

MSU ultimately held off a strong last 20 minutes from the Cornhuskers. The MSU defense would not give in despite the gritty effort offensively by Nebraska. 

With the win, the Spartans will move on to their first Big Ten Tournament Championship appearance in program history. They will face the winner of the matchup between the No. 2 seeded Northwestern and No. 6 seeded Penn State on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Lower.com Field on Big Ten Network.