EAST LANSING Michigan State coach Jeff Hosler was a leery about the Spartans circumstances heading into their NCAA tournament first-round game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Friday night.
MSU womens soccer team had thumped Milwaukee 9-0 early this season the sort of score that leaves a mark and a memory and also is rarely indicative of the actual gap between the two teams. The Panthers would be out to make amends for an embarrassing outcome. The Spartans needed to be careful not to overlook a team that had gone on to go unbeaten in the Horizon League.
And then there was the mental and physical fatigue of MSU’s Big Ten tournament run to the championship game last week, before falling just short. Three years ago, MSU fell in the title game against Penn State and then faced this same Milwaukee program days later in the NCAA tournament, needing double-overtime to beat the Panthers.
It takes so much out of you, Hosler said, those three games (at the Big Ten tournament), high level, super physical matches on the road, and then you come back home and you’ll have a few days to kind of turn everybody around.
With that context, he was thrilled with MSUs 4-1 win Friday night in a game that the Spartans controlled entirely until theyd subbed out most of their starters and gave up a late goal.
To get our result and to get one that, especially after we scored the second goal, really wasn’t in doubt, I think was a really impressive, professional and mature performance tonight by our team, Hosler said.
And with that, the 2-seed Spartans move on to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Theyll host 7-seed Wake Forest next Thursday at DeMartin Stadium, the time still to be determined. Wake Forest won 2-1 Friday against South Carolina.
The Spartans might hope their visitors from North Carolina next Thursday face chillier conditions than Friday night, when a packed crowd at DeMartin Stadium got to enjoy watching MSU showing its offensive might on a mild mid-November night.
MSU began to flex in the 20th minute when Kennedy Bell intercepted a bad pass by the Milwaukee center back, took the goalkeeper on one-on-one and calmly put the ball in the right corner of the net.
That definitely takes some nerves (out of it), Hosler said. “Kennedy is so great in those transitional moments, quality finish. It changes things (for Milwaukee). Then they have to start thinking about how their game plan is going to look. Their shape is going to look a little bit different.”
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Kennedy left the game with what appeared to be a left shoulder or arm injury later in the first half and didnt return. Hosler said she could have played in the second half if needed.
The way Shelby Vaughn was playing in the second half, there was no reason to look to Kennedy, because I thought she gave us a great lift and was really dynamic up top, Hosler said.
After uninspiring few minutes to close the first half, MSU dominated out of the break, cashing in again in the 54th minute when Sofia Beerworth found Kayla Briggs darting into the middle and Briggs did the rest, for a little bit of individual brilliance, as teammate Emerson Sargeant described it.
Sargeant got on the board next, taking a terrific through-pass from Kaleigh McPherson and appearing to toe-poke it pass the keeper in the 57th minute for a 3-0 lead.
Emmy made a great run forward, Briggs said, describing Sargeants goal. Were looking to find that final pass and connecting on it. Really that’s a big focus, especially when a team is sitting in a deeper block, and Emmy made a great run forward and put in the back of the net.
MSUs Adelle Francis made it 4-0 several minutes later. Four goals, four different goal scorers, which, Hosler, said, makes them hard to game-plan for.
Thats been a goal of ours from the very start, he said. Its our attacking identity is to be complex and try to be able to get at you with combination play differently, be able to hit you in transitions differently, to be able to score from wide areas differently, to be able to score from set pieces. To have that attacking depth makes it hard to scout for, especially in postseason play, when you’ve got short weeks and you’re not as familiar with each other.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU women’s soccer ‘impressive’ in first-round NCAA tournament win