Michigan State Women's Soccer traveled to Columbus, Ohio to take on Penn State in the B1G Championships. The Spartans were the first to score in the first few minutes of the game and went into half time in a 1-1 tie. MSU ultimately fell to Penn, 3-2.
In their first ever NCAA Tournament home game, No. 6 ranked Michigan State women’s soccer will take on Milwaukee in the first round on Friday evening.
This will be the team’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009. They are 2-4 all-time in national tournament play.
The team earned the four seed in the South Bend region after falling in the Big Ten Tournament title game to No. 21 ranked Penn State earlier this week. This is the first time ever that the Spartans have received a national seed.
Head Coach Jeff Hosler said that the team will have to stay concentrated if they want to move on in tournament play.
“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament and host a first-round game at DeMartin for the first time in program history,” Hosler said. “I'm so glad that we get to share this moment with our fans. This team has accomplished a lot through this point in the season, but I know they are hungry to go out and continue to give their best effort and play with a chip on their shoulder."
The Milwaukee Panthers come in with a 12-3-3 overall record after winning the Horizon League Tournament, which earned them an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.
MSU will have to keep eyes on senior forward Haley Johnson and sophomore forward Kayla Rollins as they lead their team with eight goals apiece.
This will be the team's 12th all-time meeting as MSU leads the series 8-3. The Spartans are 4-1 over the Panthers in games played at home.
They have only played each other once in tournament play and that came in 2008. MSU won 2-1 in that match in South Bend.
If the Spartans are to win, the second-round game will be against the winner of UTSA and five-seeded TCU. That game would be played on campus again the following weekend.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at DeMartin Stadium. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN+.
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