Oct. 6, 2005
East Lansing, Mich. - The Michigan State women's soccer team returns home this Friday, Oct. 7, when it hosts the University of Wisconsin at 4 p.m. at Old College Field. The Spartans' Big Ten schedule continues Sunday, at noon, when the Northwestern Wildcats invade East Lansing. MSU is currently 6-3-3 overall and 2-1-0 in Big Ten play, good for fifth place in the conference standings with one game in hand. The Badgers and Wildcats enter this weekend's games winless in Big Ten contests, each with a 0-3-1 record.
Last weekend the Green and White dropped a difficult decision at Purdue, before rebounding behind sophomore goalkeeper Nicole Galas' (Sterling Heights, Mich.) seventh shutout of the season; classmate Breana Ballard (Battle Creek, Mich.) scored the only goal of the game, the first of her career, in MSU's, 1-0, win over Indiana.
Wisconsin enters the weekend 5-5-2, but is just 0-3-1 in Big Ten play this season. The Badgers are coming off of three-straight overtime losses. UW fell to Minnesota, 1-0, on Friday, Sept. 30, before dropping a 2-1 decision to Penn State on Sunday, Oct. 30. The Badgers are led in scoring by Amy Vermeulen (5-0-10), Alison Priess (3-4-10) and Kara Kabellis (3-3-9), while sophomore Lynn Murray has seen the majority of the time between the pipes, logging 10 starts and posting a 1.37 GAA and a .736 save percentage. The Spartans have managed just two wins and a pair of ties in 21 games against Wisconsin, including an 0-6-2 mark at Old College Field.
The Wildcats (7-4-1, 0-3-1) have lost three out of four and have yet to post a Big Ten win in 2005. Northwestern dropped a pair of one-goal conference games over the weekend, a 2-1 decision vs. Penn State and a 1-0 loss against Minnesota. NU boasts a trio of double-digit scorers in sophomore Kelsey Hans (5-3-13), freshman Jenny Dunn (5-1-11) and senior Tabitha Lowey (5-0-10). Whitney Jones is Northwestern's goalkeeper. The junior has started all 12 games for the Wildcats this season, and sports a 1.14 GAA and a .794 save percentage. The Green and White holds a 7-3-2 career edge in 12 all-time meetings between the two schools.
The Spartans return to the road next weekend, traveling to Iowa and Illinois on Friday, Oct. 14 and Sunday, Oct. 16, respectively. The following weekend Michigan State will play its last home games of the 2005 season when it welcomes Minnesota and Penn State to East Lansing.
