No. 9 Field Hockey Travels To No. 14 Iowa Saturday
9/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 30, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Spartan field hockey team will travel to Iowa City, this Saturday, Oct. 1, to take on Big Ten opponent Iowa. Both teams suffered losses in conference play last week, with State (8-3, 0-1) falling 3-2 in overtime to Indiana and Ohio State downing the Hawkeyes (6-4, 0-1), 4-2. MSU and Iowa shared a Big Ten crown last season, in a three-way split with Michigan. Saturday's game will begin at noon central time, rather than the previously scheduled 1 p.m. start.
Senior forward Michelle Huynh-Ba has paced the Spartan offense this year with 13 points, on six goals and one assist. Making an impact in her rookie season at MSU has been freshman back Inge Kaars Sijpestijn, collecting 5-2-12 totals. Senior midfielder Jessica Miller has continued to be the set-up man for the Green and White, providing a team high six assists, while adding two goals for a total of 10 points. Six other Spartans have recorded goals this season, in a fairly balanced attack. MSU has scored 25 goals this season to opponents' 17, holding a 158-132 shot advantage.
Senior goalie Christina Kirkaldy has started every game in the net for Michigan State in 2005, stopping 50 shots and posting two shutouts.
A young Hawkeye team, anchored by underclassmen, starts just one senior and two juniors. Junior midfielder Debbie Birrell leads the team as Iowa's main striker, with seven goals and three assists, for 17 points. Freshman forward Caitlin McCurdy has tallied 4-7-15, while freshman midfielder Lauren Pfeiffer has 6-1-13, and classmate Katie Naughton, also a midfielder, has 5-1-11 totals. All but one of Iowa's field players has recorded at least one goal this season.
"We have to not give up corners against them, they like to draw corners and that's were they get a lot of goals, so we have to be sharp in the defensive circle," stated MSU head coach Michele Madison.
The last line of defense for the Hawkeyes is freshman goalie Lissa Munley, who has allowed just 14 shots past her this season, while stopping 37. Iowa has outscored its opponents 35-15, and has outshot adversaries 172-121.
"We just have to play our style, versus playing the style of our opponent," added Madison. "Iowa likes to play in a zone, they like to play soft defense. They double team, we have to attack the spaces and keep moving the ball."
The Spartans continue Big Ten action when they return to East Lansing, hosting rival Michigan on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 5 p.m.
