When the Spartans step onto the field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium Saturday afternoon, they will be doing so in front of the biggest crowd the stadium has seen. For the first time in Central Michigan’s school history, tickets for the game sold out prior to game day, where the No. 11 Spartans (1-0) will face off against the Chippewas (1-0) before an expected record capacity of 32,855 fans.
Bennie Fowler only was a freshman, but the moment still stands out in his mind. It was three years ago when a 42-yard Central Michigan field goal with three seconds remaining handed MSU a stunning 29-27 loss in Spartan Stadium that began a three-game losing streak.
In the fourth quarter, CMU kicker Andrew Aguila misses a 47-yard field goal, but an offside penalty against defensive end Colin Neely gave CMU another chance.
With just two games to go until the Big Ten season starts, the MSU women’s soccer team has its eye set on a Big Ten championship — its first since 1994.
MSU field hockey’s three-game winning streak has caught the attention of the rest of the nation. After a weekend featuring a signature win over then-No. 11 Stanford and a shutout win over Miami (Ohio), the Spartans find themselves ranked 20th in the nation by the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association, or NFHCA, Division I National Coaches Poll.
Now everyone’s attention turns to the coming Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational this weekend at Jenison Field House, where MSU will take on IPFW on Friday, followed by Albany and Georgia on Saturday. Both George and sophomore libero Kori Moster noted the competition is starting to get tougher, with George calling the weekend’s slate “very strong.”
The MSU men’s golf team gets their season underway this weekend when they travel to Sugar Grove, Ill., to take on Indiana and Purdue in the Northern Intercollegiate on Saturday and Sunday. The Spartans then go to Zionsville, Ind., on Sept. 15-16, to compete in the Wolf Run Intercollegiate along with Illinois and Wisconsin.
It will be a battle of the conferences as the MSU men’s soccer team (1-2-1) heads out to the east coast for the first time this weekend to test its Big Ten skills against Big East and Ivy League opponents.
Two overtimes weren’t enough as the MSU women’s soccer team played to a 0-0 draw against Oakland on Wednesday night.
The MSU football team has been getting attention lately because of some players’ tweets about the U-M football loss to Alabama, but one MSU student-athlete has been making an impression for quite some time — and causing much less trouble along the way.
MSU’s receiving corps have heard it all before. They’re young. They’re untested. They make mistakes. They can’t make the big plays. Junior running back Le’Veon Bell will have to carry this offense. After Friday’s game, it only got worse. The passing game took a backseat to Bell’s monstrous performance, as the Spartans struggled to move the ball through the air. Three interceptions and a fumble by sophomore wide receiver Tony Lippett later and MSU doesn’t appear to boast the same wideout pedigree it has in the past.
When the No. 11 MSU football team (1-0) takes the field and one of the country’s most heralded defenses lines up each Saturday, a glance across the field often shows Johnny Adams and Darqueze Dennard matched up on their own, with no one around to help them.
The players included junior linebackers Denicos Allen and freshman Jamal Lyles, redshirt freshman safety Kyle Artinian and sophomore running back Nick Hill, and Dantonio made it clear the behavior would not be tolerated.
It’s becoming clear that this year’s MSU field hockey team is very different from last year’s, even if most of the players are the same.
With the Big Ten season looming, the MSU women’s soccer team looks to take its level of play to the next level in the next three games, which all are against in-state teams.
It sounds like the sentiments of a hopeless Detroit Lions fan circa 2008, but the above statements fit the MSU men’s soccer team (1-2-1) better than any other to this point in the season. Junior keeper Bryce Dobbins summed up the season perfectly last week, saying the team is always right there.
After his 265 total-yard, two-touchdown performance against then-No. 24 Boise State Friday night, junior running back Le’Veon Bell has been thrust into the national spotlight, raking in Offensive Big Ten Co-Player of the week honors and eliciting talks of possible Heisman candidacy.
In a 17-13 victory over No. 24 Boise State, the No. 13 Spartans made a statement, topping a ranked opponent in the season opener for the first time since 1987.
The MSU men’s soccer team (1-2-1) fell victim to the No. 1 Connecticut’s (3-0-0) undefeated record in a 1-0 loss Monday afternoon.
In less than a week, sophomore midfielder Becky Stiles will be headed to Guadalajara, Mexico. No, she’s not going on spring break six months early. She, along with 17 other field hockey players from around the country, will be playing in the under-21 version of the Pan-American Games.