Field Hockey Sweeps Big Ten Weekly Honors
11/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Nov. 3, 2003
East Lansing, Mich. - The No. 5 Michigan State field hockey team ended the regular season with a 5-0 shutout win over Ohio State to clinch a share of the Big Ten title with No. 6 Michigan. Two Spartans have been awarded player of the week honors for their efforts as Annebet Beerman (Maarssen, Netherlands/St. Bonifatius) earned Offensive Player of the Week honors and goalkeeper Christina Kirkaldy (Afton, N.Y./Afton Central) earned Defensive Player of the Week accolades. Beerman scored three goals for a natural hat trick and recorded a defensive save, helping the defense to its fifth shutout of the season. Christina Kirkaldy anchored the Spartans' defense, making five saves in the first 62 minutes to lead MSU to a share of the conference title.
Beerman's hat trick marks her second of the season as she scored three goals in a 5-2 win against Hofstra on Oct. 28. She is the first Spartan to accomplish that feat since Marleen Tuip in 1999. She has 15 goals on the year after opening the season with a total of three goals through the first eight games. She has since scored 12 goals in the final nine regular season games. Beerman ends the regular season tied with teammate Veerle Goudswaard for the Big Ten lead in conference games only with six goals and 14 points. The player of the week honor is Beerman's first this season. She earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors last season for the period ending Sept. 1, 2002. She was a 2002 Third Team All-American, First Team All-West Region and First Team All-Big Ten honoree and was named co-Big Ten Tournament MVP after scoring five goals in three games.
Kirkaldy earns the conference's weekly honor for the third time this season. She also earned the honor for the period ending Aug. 31 and Oct. 6. She has 97 saves on the year, allowing just 20 goals Kirkaldy led all conference goalkeepers on the season with a goals against average of 0.70 in league play only, allowing just four goals in six games. She was named womensfieldhockey.com's National Rookie of the Year in 2002 and earned First Team All-West Region and Second Team All-Big Ten honors.
Michigan State heads to State College, Pa., to defend its Big Ten Tournament title Nov. 7-9. MSU is the No. 2 seed behind Big Ten co-champion Michigan. The Spartans will face seventh-seeded Indiana at 10 a.m., on Nov. 7.
