MSU head coach Bobby Williams played musical chairs with his lineup after both of his starting cornerbacks suffered injuries in the bye week.Both senior DeMario Suggs and freshman Jason Harmon broke an ankle and are out eight to10 weeks.As a result, Williams shuffled his players and even dipped into his offensive resources.
Soccer in the United States may not cause the uproar among fans like the Manchester United or Liverpool can.But East Lansing soccer hooligans will have a reason to cheer tonight as the MSU men’s soccer team takes on a diversified Oakland University team at 4:00 p.m.
The weather provided a challenge, but the MSU women’s crew team found a way to succeed as they traveled Saturday to Pittsburgh to compete in the Head of the Ohio. The regatta included 117 organizations and Big Ten rivals Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan. The Spartans entered boats in four races - open pairs, club eight, open four and open eight - and came out with two first-place finishes. Junior Kate Gay and senior Krista Buzzel won the first race of the day, the open pairs, with a time of 17:01.60. Sophomore coxswain Michelle Fix, junior Stacey Atkinson, junior Amy Silder, sophomore Amy Pennington, senior Beth Kaupa, senior Kate Yauk, junior Laura Thomas, junior Ty Middleton and senior Laurie Kozlakowski won the club eight race in 15:22.80.
The legs of MSU’s kickers have been working harder than a Las Vegas chorus line. And for good reason - the position is wide open after three field goals and two extra points missed the mark in the Spartans’ 27-26 loss at Northwestern on Sept.
MSU head coach Ron Mason and Michigan head coach Red Berenson didn’t just leave the door open for the possibility of another massive outdoor hockey game occurring - they all but took it off the hinges. After “The Cold War” set the world record for hockey attendance (74,554) and basically went off without a hitch Saturday night, the long-time coaches said a follow-up was inevitable. But where will it happen next? “The world of professional hockey and the world of college hockey will both look at it,” Berenson said.
When senior outside hitter Erin Hartley landed on the foot of junior middle blocker Angela Morley and went down with a sprained ankle in the second game Saturday at Purdue, it was reason to be worried. “She’s the primary player on our team and it takes a lot away from us,” Spartan head coach Chuck Erbe said. But when Hartley returned midway into the same game, it was reason to be inspired. “We got a big lift when Erin came back into the game, and she played great,” junior outside hitter Kyla Smith said.
The MSU women’s soccer team (5-4-2, 2-3-1 Big Ten) split the weekend winning Sunday 1-0 at Ohio State and losing 4-0 Friday at Penn State.
The No. 7 MSU field hockey (10-4) team continued its winning ways by downing Miami (Ohio) 4-0 in the Duffy Daugherty Football Building on Sunday. Junior forward Julia Adams scored the game-winning goal on a penalty corner with 2:59 left in the first half. Sophomore forward Theresa Pusateri and freshman back Judith van Haeringen padded the score before senior forward Maureen Halstead capped the rout off with her tenth goal of the season with 17:47 left in the game. The successful day ended a winning weekend for MSU.
Senior cornerback DeMario Suggs broke his left ankle in practice Thursday, a day after redshirt freshman cornerback Jason Harmon broke his right ankle in practice.Both Suggs and Harmon suffered similar injuries and will miss eight-to-10 weeks, Assistant Athletics Director John Lewandowski said.“He was on punt coverage,” Lewandowski said.
After all the hype and anticipation, “The Cold War” finally ended with dramatic fire blasts shooting from black bins surrounding the portable ice arena in Spartan Stadium and the scoreboard reading
Two things were expected going into “The Cold War” on Saturday at Spartan Stadium - it would be big and the game would be a close one.After 74,554 MSU and Michigan fans spilled into the stadium’s stands and aisles, easily breaking the world record for attendance at a hockey game, that much came true.And after overtime ended with a 3-3 tie, most of those fans gathered their blankets and hats and walked down the ramps to the concourse without a second thought that a game between two top-five teams should have ended any differently.But it was unexpected factors - the crowd, the noise, the pregame hoopla, the lighting, the cold, the board and ice conditions - that made the night one the Spartan players and fans said they won’t soon forget.“As soon as we walked out and everyone in the stands saw us, they just started going nuts,” senior right wing Adam Hall said.
Top-ranked MSU and archrival No. 4 Michigan helped break a world record Saturday night, but 65 minutes of hockey was not enough to break the 3-3 tie the teams skated to in “The Cold War” at Spartan Stadium.U-M center Mike Cammalleri notched two goals and an assist, and it looked like that would be enough to propel the Wolverines (0-0-1 overall, 0-0-1 CCHA) to victory on hostile turf.But MSU freshman center Jim Slater electrified the partisan Spartan crowd with a last-minute goal - his first as a collegian - that sent the game to overtime.Both teams threatened but couldn’t score in the extra frame, bringing about a somewhat anticlimactic ending to a highly hyped event.
West Lafayette, Ind. - One injured leader couldn’t stop MSU on Saturday. After losing the first game to Purdue and watching as senior outside hitter Erin Hartley rolled her ankle and took a seat, things looked grim for the Spartans (10-3, 3-3 Big Ten). But the team regrouped and won the next three games against Purdue, taking the match 3-1 and claiming its first Big Ten road win. “It’s a relief to get our first road win, because we don’t have it hanging over heads anymore,” Hartley said.
MSU had to have an extra skater to manage a 3-3 tie with Michigan in “The Cold War” at Spartan Stadium on Saturday.
A crowd of 635 braved the cold to watch the MSU men’s soccer team best No. 15 Ohio State 3-0 Sunday at Old College Field.MSU began its win by keeping the ball in Ohio State’s territory for almost all of the first half.Despite the pressure, the Spartans (6-2-1, 2-1-0 Big Ten) couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities, sending many of the players to the locker room frustrated.“It was frustrating because with the chances we had, we didn’t miss by much,” junior forward Brett Konley said.
Sports fans proved Saturday that weather, time and even sporting genre don’t matter when universities put on their game faces.The only thing that does matter is rivalry.“I don’t care if they’re playing Tiddlywinks, this is MSU versus U of M,” said Tom Ludwig, a resident of Chelsea who began tailgating at 2:30 p.m.“You can watch this on TV tomorrow, but there’s no replacement for seeing this live.”Spartan and Wolverine fans alike packed campus for “The Cold War”, the record-breaking hockey game between U-M and MSU in Spartan Stadium.With temperatures hovering just a few degrees above freezing at their coldest, the number of tailgaters entering campus just as the sun began to shine were down from the average football game.But by noon, the hockey Saturday looked just like a football Saturday.Most lots normally designated for alumni donors were open to the public, giving students and hockey fans a chance to feel the thrills and chills of tailgating and rivalry for their sport of choice.And there were chills for hockey tailgaters to match the ice crystallized over Spartan Stadium’s turf.“We’re beyond freezing,” said telecommunication senior Miranda Dietrich, who had been hopping up and down for warmth at her tailgating spot, near the tennis courts on Wilson Road, since 9:30 a.m.“We’ve got layers and layers.
MSU freshman center Jim Slater wasn’t about to let his first collegiate hockey game end in a loss to archrival Michigan in a season-opening CCHA battle in front of a world-record crowd in Spartan Stadium.So Slater introduced and endeared himself to the Spartan hockey faithful with a memorable game-tying goal late in “The Cold War” on Saturday night as No.
The MSU men’s golf team put together a second-place effort Wednesday at the Adams Cup of Newport, in Newport, R.I. Out of 17 schools, New Mexico claimed the top spot with a three round score of 854, seven strokes lower than MSU’s 861. The Spartans ended the first round in 13th with a score of 295, but returned with scores of 281 in the second round and 285 in the final round.
The spotlight on senior Ann Somerville got brighter this week as she earned cross-country Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors following her latest performance. Somerville’s 13th place finish helped the Spartans nab a fifth-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday. She is the first Spartans’ women’s cross-country runner to earn the honor since teammate Michelle Carson was given the award for the week of Sept.
Most of the top-ranked Spartans’ outdoor playing experience hasn’t extended beyond friendly shinny games on cold winter afternoons.That will change at 7:05 p.m.