The Michigan State Spartans (2-5) played their second Big Ten match-up Friday afternoon at Ralph Young Field against the Indiana Hoosiers (3-5), where they clinched a 1-0 victory over the opponents.
With the Spartans starting goalie, sophomore Cecily Charles, coming off of a hot game against Ohio State, where she logged 14 total saves through the four quarters —earning her Big Ten Co-Freshman of the week — the team was itching for a victory against the Hoosiers.
Charles had a great couple of saves, tipping off of the top of her glove to keep the Hoosiers from landing themselves on the scoreboard throughout the matchup.
“When keepers make saves and strikers score goals, I think you’re in a good spot,” Head coach Hellen Knull said, who along with celebrating a victory, also celebrated her birthday Friday. “I think Sunday gave Cece [Charles] a ton of confidence, as it rightfully should. For her, I think she has this confidence in herself, a bit of a swagger, which she rightfully should.”
The Spartans held their own through the first period with a very clean corner free game. The great defense was comparative to their way in which they played last weekend. The team’s offense was pushing hard today, with tough competition on the Hoosiers defense striking right back. One thing this game lacked though was the penalty corners that last Sunday’s competition brought.
“Every game is different,” Knull said. “Sometimes you are going to have an influx of corners, like Sunday’s game for example.”
While the first quarter was all play, no penalties, the second quarter brought the first of 8 penalty corners spanning through the final few quarters.
“Ohio State’s team had a lot of repeat corners off of us because we were defending them well. Today for us personally, we didn’t always attack,” Knull said. “We were more reactive [in the first half] than being proactive to the ball.”
The shot attempts for the Hoosiers ran high through the second quarter, but at the half, the teams were still tied 0-0, with the shots on goal in favor of the opponents at 3-1, and the corners in favor of them as well, at 4-0.
“I wasn’t happy with them [at the half],” Knull said. “I think the first half, we were really reactive. We were playing really individualized, and we were getting two consecutive passes and then turning the ball over, so I kind of laid into them a little bit and told them we have to clean these things up.”
And the Spartans did just that by coming in hot during the second half of the game, finally earning their first corner, and waiting to push as hard as they could towards the Hoosier’s goal. Senior midfielder Lulu Fulton was a huge component in the game, having two shots on goal during the second half, and playing a harsh defensive offense against Indiana.
Well into the fourth quarter, neither team had yet to land the first goal on the board, and even through the remaining corners the Spartans received, they managed to land a spot in the net, off of an assist from Fulton, to junior midfielder Ellier Rutherford, for the game winner on the 1-0 game.
“I think last Sunday [against Ohio State], we played with such grit and intensity for the entire game, and that's what we challenged for every day in practice this week,” Knull said. “We brought the intensity and we brought the mindset, now we had to put that into the second game in a row.”
The Spartans will take on an in-state opponent on Sunday, against the Central Michigan University Chippewas at 1 p.m. at Ralph Young field for military appreciation night to finish off their weekend of game play, rounding out Michigan State’s homecoming weekend.
