Facing one of the most difficult weekends of the season, the MSU women’s soccer team earned a split against two formidable Big Ten opponents. The Spartans (10-3-0, 3-2-0 Big Ten) rallied behind strong defense and the play of senior goalkeeper Jill Flietstra to take a 1-0 win against Nebraska on Friday.
As the Big Ten standings continue to set up, the MSU women’s soccer team is eager to stay in the hunt. With a pair of conference matchups on the road against Nebraska and Iowa, the Spartans (9-2-0, 2-1-0 Big Ten) will look to improve their season record against two of the top teams in the Big Ten. For women’s soccer head coach Tom Saxton, the weekend could be a telling one for his team, as it continues to make a run for postseason play and an NCAA Tournament bid. “These two teams, after two weekends of Big Ten play, are up on the top end of the table with us,” Saxton said.
Last season, the MSU men’s soccer team played three of its toughest Big Ten games on the road. The Spartans lost at Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan on their way to a sixth-place finish in the seven-team Big Ten soccer conference. This year, MSU (2-5-2 overall, 0-0-1 Big Ten) hosts the three teams this season, beginning with Ohio State (5-4-1, 1-0-0) on Sunday.
In the 51st minute of the MSU men’s soccer team’s game against Illinois-Chicago, it looked like the bounces would continue to go against the Spartans.
The MSU men’s soccer team has started the season off on a sour note — 1-5-2 — but it’s not the end of the world. Last year, the team ended on a 0-4-1 skid before the NCAA tournament and still managed a trip to the Sweet 16.
The Spartans (10-2-0 overall, 2-1-0 Big Ten) kept offensive pressure on the Golden Gophers (4-6-1, 1-1-1) the whole game while keeping shots away from senior goalie Jill Flietstra.
The MSU men’s soccer team opened up its Big Ten season with a 1-1 tie at Northwestern on Saturday.
Coming into the game riding an eight-game winning streak, the MSU women’s soccer team (8-2-0, 1-1-0 Big Ten) couldn’t match the intensity of Wisconsin (7-3-0, 2-0-0) and gave up a late goal to fall 2-1.
Last year, the MSU men’s soccer team entered the Big Ten season on a five-game winning streak, eventually finishing sixth out of seven with a 2-4-0 record in the conference. This year, the Spartans (1-5-1) will start the Big Ten season with a less-than-successful record Saturday at Northwestern.
The MSU women’s soccer coach is preaching a gospel of physicality and grittiness as his team (8-1-0, 1-0-0 Big Ten) heads into a weekend series against Wisconsin (6-3-0, 1-0-0) and Minnesota (3-5-1, 0-0-1). With the Spartans riding an eight-game winning streak, Saxton will look for his team to step up at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field early in its Big Ten schedule.
Although it has been the offense garnering the headlines and much of the accolades, the Spartans (8-1-0, 1-0 Big Ten) return home riding an eight-game winning streak in large part thanks to the strong play of their backline.
Colin Givens spent just three weeks on the roster of an Major League Soccer team, but the former Spartan — who was drafted in the second round of the MLS SuperDraft in January — said it was the best three weeks of his soccer career. The Colorado Rapids cut the defender in February, and a determined Givens, who was a unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection for MSU in 2010, went to Europe briefly to play for a team in Finland. Now, after a spring knee injury, he’s back at MSU pursuing his degree before hitting the field again to play the game he loves — hopefully sooner rather than later.
Following a week where she netted five goals — including two game-winners — the senior forward Heyboer was named Big Ten Offensive co-Player of the Week, the Big Ten announced Monday. The All-American Heyboer shares the honor with Nebraska forward and two-time Big 12 honoree Morgan Marlborough.
On short rest following Friday night’s tie against Marquette, MSU (1-5-1) came back and couldn’t capitalize on any chances against Notre Dame (4-1-2).
As the Spartans (8-1-0, 1-0 Big Ten) opened up Big Ten play Sunday, the senior forward Heyboer notched two goals on three shots to give her team the 2-1 victory against Purdue. With two more goals, the All-American Heyboer now has 13 on the season, and it moves her closer to the MSU single season goals mark, which Heyboer also set back in 2008 (21).
After a rough first five games, the MSU men’s soccer team is in for another grueling weekend.
In the team’s last nonconference matchup of the season, the third goal of senior forward Laura Heyboer’s hat trick gave the MSU women’s soccer team (7-1-0) an impressive overtime victory against Detroit, 4-3.
As Detroit Mercy comes to town for a 5 p.m. matchup today at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field, the Spartans (6-1-0) will look to extend their winning streak on the season to seven games by maintaining a solid attack on both sides of the ball.
MSU (1-4) hit a low point Sunday suffering a loss to Marshall (1-4), a game in which the Spartans gave up Marshall’s first goal of the season and continued their slow start to the season.
Junior forward Olivia Stander and sophomore goalkeeper Courtney Clem were named Big Ten Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively.