Field Hockey Cruises By Northwestern, 4-1

Oct. 22, 2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Head coach Michele Madison stressed attacking the goal and being aggressive in the past week's practice and that's exactly what her Michigan State field hockey team did Saturday afternoon in East Lansing against Northwestern. The Spartans ran away with a 4-1 victory, scoring three second half goals; two just 33 seconds apart. Freshman Inge Kaars Sijpestijn scored two goals on the day, both off of assists from senior Jessica Miller.

Miller found Sijpestijn 9:56 into the game, at the top of the circle, where she thundered a shot past the Wildcat defense for her first score of the game.

Up 1-0 at the end of the first half, State suddenly found itself in a 1-1 tie just 11 minutes into the second period. Northwestern was able to capitalize on a defensive mistake by the Spartans, when Christina Nannicelli made good of a penalty stroke at 45:53. The score seemed to awaken Michigan State, who increased the pressure and rattled off three straight unanswered goals, on its way a 4-1 victory.

Junior Ashley Pernicano got things going when she dribbled across NU's end line and slotted a ball through for a Michelle Huynh-Ba score, at 52:05. Just 33 seconds later, Kristin Dunn slashed through Northwestern's defense, finding Becky Manning, who tipped the ball in for her third goal of the season. Miller and Sijpestijn connected again for the Spartans' final score at 64:17.

"At the half we discussed stepping up the pressure and trying to really force them left, which we didn't do such a good job of in the first half," stated head coach Michele Madison. "The good thing is, we did what we did in practice all week, forehand pressure, end line defense and end line attack."

The win improves the Spartans record to 10-7 and 1-4 in Big Ten play. State finishes up the regular season next weekend, hosting Ohio State on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. and then Ohio University on Sunday, at 2 p.m.