Having to brave an away match against No. 12 Notre Dame, previously unbeaten at Alumni Stadium during the season, the No. 13 MSU men's soccer team could hardly have been blamed if they aimed for a draw.
The day was all about the seniors. The game was all about the underclassmen.
Last year wasn’t easy for MSU head men’s soccer coach Damon Rensing, eighth-year head coach of the MSU men’s soccer team.
In a midday Saturday Big Ten battle, MSU bijsoijs Northwestern jsijsojs in the last home game of the regular season at DeMartin Stadium.
The penultimate home game of the season against Yale was all about defending. Indemnifying the one-goal loss to Penn State the weekend before, MSU shored up the back line and guarded the home turf.
With a 2-1 victory against Akron, MSU men's soccer earned their ninth win of the season, surpassing last year's total with still five games remaining.
It was bound to happen sooner or later; MSU finally found a game of zero separation. In a double-overtime, back-and-forth rush of attacks, MSU hosting Wisconsin ended up a 1-1 tie. The two teams also knotted their draw in the Big Ten standings, as both remaintied for second.
For MSU, the Western Michigan game was in many ways a point of inflection around which the rest of the season could hinge.
To be a defender or a goalkeeper — that was the question for a young Jimmy Hague. Hague had played soccer his whole life, but the choice to velcro up the gloves and slip on the long-sleeved jersey was a defining one in his athletic career and one that certainly both he and MSU head soccer coach Damon Rensing are happy that he made.
Wednesday afternoon, Michigan State (8-2 record) returned to DeMartin Stadium to outlast in-state rivalry Western Michigan (8-3-1 record), by a final score of 2-1.
The stormy weather symbolized the game. There was nothing elegant about the way MSU avoided its first back-to-back losses results of the season, but the Spartans trudged through the storm to beat Bowling Green, 1-0.
Junior midfielder Brad Centala had never hoisted the Big Bear Trophy. Neither had junior goalkeeper Jimmy Hague. On Sunday afternoon, they were determined to fix that.
In the Battle for the Big Bear Trophy, MSU edged Michigan 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at DeMartin Stadium. The game was evenly challenged throughout, with the two teams nearly identical in their attacking position and efforts at goal, but MSU exuded the necessary composure both offensively and defensively in the definitive moments.
Junior attacking midfielder Ken Krolicki was named Big Ten Player of the Week, according to MSU Athletic Communications.
With so much building up to the start of the conference season, head coach Damon Rensing said Michigan State delivered their "most complete game" of the season as MSU (3-1) defeated Rutgers (0-4) 4-0 Friday afternoon.
In the season's Big Ten season opener, MSU (3-1) defeated Rutgers (0-4) 4-0 on Friday afternoon. The Spartans had to wait for the breakthrough, as it took an entire first half of possession and eight shots before sophomore forward Ryan Sierakowski finally netted a free kick 21 seconds before the halftime. Then, the goals poured, with many second-half chances and conversions.
The Michigan State men's soccer team has been a brewing melting pot of prowess, shortcomings, and resilience three games into the regular season. And as the Spartans have hinted at both a superb season ahead and one that could be quite long, their real muster will tested on Friday afternoon, with the Big Ten regular season beginning with a home game against Rutgers.
State News: How long have you been playing soccer? Zach Carroll: I started playing when I was about four years old, I started in the AYSO program.
As the No. 3-seeded men’s soccer team (12-4-6 overall, 4-2-2 Big Ten) prepares for its second Elite Eight game in as many years, the team has to be confident that what they’ve done all season will lead them to a win over the No. 11-seed Providence Friars (15-4-2 overall, 5-2-2 Big East) Saturday at noon in DeMartin Soccer Stadium.
Destiny is defined as “the hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future,” according to Oxford Dictionaries. Heading into the Elite Eight, the men’s soccer team appears to be a team of destiny — and that destiny is winning a national championship.