With the Big Ten season just days away, the MSU women’s soccer team (5-1-1) wraps up nonconference play against Western Michigan (4-3-0) at 5 p.m. on Wednesday at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.
Heading into its final invitational of the season, the MSU volleyball team continues to look for progress.
Flash forward a week and the offense has gone from stumbling to startling, with eight receivers totaling more than 14 yards receiving in the No. 10 MSU football team’s (2-0) 41-7 victory over Central Michigan (1-1).
All the scoring for the MSU women’s soccer team happened in the second half, as they defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles 2-0 Sunday afternoon.
The Spartans have opened the 2012 season with three consecutive invitational championships by winning the Spartan Showcase, University of Connecticut Classic and the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational over the last three weekends. Junior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski now has garnered a pair of MVP trophies — sophomore libero Kori Moster took home the MVP from the Connecticut Classic — and no fewer than five Spartans have been named to an all-tournament team.
A rough weekend for MSU field hockey concluded with a 3-1 loss to Northeastern on Sunday at Ralph Young Field at Old College Field. The Spartans were hoping to bounce back from their double-overtime loss to Virginia on Friday, but a second-half surge by the Huskies was enough to put the game away.
Following a pair of games over a long weekend on the East Coast, the MSU men’s soccer team (2-3-1) will return to East Lansing with a loss and a win.
It was the biggest play of DeAnthony Arnett’s young MSU career. The sophomore receiver’s 48-yard reception was a careerlong and set up an MSU touchdown on the Spartans’ opening drive of the second half against Central Michigan, but after the game Arnett hardly was thrilled. After playing less than a handful of plays in the Spartans’ season-opening victory against then-No. 24 Boise State, MSU receivers coach Terrence Samuel said Arnett likely would see an increase in playing time on Saturday.
Different weekend, same old story. For the third consecutive weekend, MSU volleyball has taken home the title from a weekend invitational.
It’s been over a decade since MSU legend T.J. Duckett donned a green and white uniform, but Saturday afternoon there was another No. 8 lining up in MSU’s backfield. Redshirt freshman defensive end Lawrence Thomas — “LT” to his coaches and teammates — saw an expanded role in a place few expected to see — at the fullback position.
There was every reason to exhale. Every reason to enjoy the victory over Boise State a little too long, and think ahead to Notre Dame a little too early. But from start to finish, the Spartans made it clear: they came to Mt. Pleasant, Mich., to dominate, and refused to relent.
The Spartans went on to finish off the Chippewas 41-7 behind Bell’s two touchdown, 70 yard performance and the leadership of junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell, who threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns on 20-for-31 passing.
The No. 11 MSU football team cleaned up at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, knocking off the Chippewas 41-7 Saturday afternoon.
Junior running back Le’Veon Bell is leading the Spartan effort, carrying the ball 15 times for 60 yards and two touchdowns. After a shaky start, junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell seemed to find his groove with his receiving corps, going 17-for-28 for 213 yards and his first touchdown of the season, a 20-yard strike to junior tight end Dion Sims.
MSU volleyball may have seen its 18-set winning streak stopped when it dropped the first set to IPFW in the first game of the Auto-Owners Insurance Invitational, but the Spartans fought back and won their seventh match in a row, 3-2. Head coach Cathy George is happy with the win, however. “It’s OK to be tested,” she said.
Any time a team loses to a rival at home, it’s easy to focus on the negatives. But MSU field hockey has chosen to focus on the positives after their 2-1, double overtime loss to Virginia.
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.