“I think Friday’s win against Indiana, we’ve had some 1-0 losses or overtime losses, and we just needed that confidence of winning the game,” Knull said. "So, coming in today, I felt that they were confident, ready to go. Overall, I was pleased with how they came out and the win Friday really gave them a boost for today’s game.”

The Spartans started the game off hot with a goal from the right side by Lena Kassel within the first eight minutes of the first quarter, marking her second goal of the season.

In less than two minutes after the first goal, junior midfielder Ellie Rutherford scored the second goal for the Spartans off an assist from senior midfielder Lulu Fulton.

With a little more than three minutes left in the second quarter, senior midfielder Ashley Harlock assisted freshman forward Bianca Pizano for the Spartans final goal. Pizano’s goal was also her first collegiate goal.

By halftime, the Spartans lead 3-0 and continued to stop CMU from attempting shots with tight defense.

Coming into halftime, Knull said there were adjustments made to improve the Spartan offense.

“There were some parts where we were dribbling too much in the first half,” Knull said. “Our off-ball movement had to improve, and it got better. We started to play balls into space, which was a good adjustment for us because they weren’t actually applying hard pressure on us which gave us time to go, but that doesn’t mean to dribble. It was really a bit of us just doing our basics and doing the things we have to do well over and over again.”

With the third and fourth quarter being scoreless, MSU still put pressure on CMU and dominated offensively with 25-1 in shots and 8-2 in penalty corners for the win.

The Spartans will travel to take on their third Big Ten match-up against Northwestern at 4 p.m. Friday Sept. 29