Michigan State University
Wisconsin
Men's Soccer Drops Final Big Ten Match To Wisconsin
10/31/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 31, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's soccer team lost its final Big Ten contest of the year Sunday to the Wisconsin Badgers, 2-1. The Spartans finish conference play with a 2-4 record (8-6-1 overall). With the victory Wisconsin improves to 8-8 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten.
The Badgers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal by Nick Van Sicklen just over six minutes into the game.
The Spartans were able to knot the score at 1-1, on a goal from Kenzo Webster (Fr., Monroe) in the 67th minute. John Minagawa-Webster (Sr.-5, Monroe) and Ryan Gochneaur (Fr., Medina, Ohio) assisted on the MSU goal.
The match was a very physical contest. The officials issued four yellow cards and State and Wisconsin earned 23 and 22 fouls, respectively. Each team had 17 fouls in the second half alone.
UW recaptured the lead at 79:51 with another tally by Van Sicklen. The goal was unassisted.
Late Spartan efforts proved to be ineffective to tie the score. With time winding down MSU had several scoring chances, including a bicycle kick by freshman defender Rauwshan McKenzie (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) that UW netminder Eric Hanson made a jumping save on as the final horn sounded.
Michigan State stopper Jason Tillman (So., Brighton) made five saves in the match in addition to playing a key role in thwarting other Badger scoring chances.
The Spartans play at Notre Dame on Tuesday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m., then close the regular season out at home at Old College Field on Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. against Valparasio. This season's Big Ten Tournament (Nov. 11-14) will be held in Ann Arbor, Mich. For more information visit www.msuspartans.com.
