Spartan Field Hockey Takes Down Kent State 5-1

Oct. 28, 2007

EAST LANSING - Mich. - The Michigan State field hockey team hosted Kent State on Sunday in the last game of the regular season at Ralph Young Field in East Lansing. MSU defeated the Golden Flashes, 5-1, extending its overall record to 15-4 on the year. Senior Becky Manning was stellar on offense for the Spartans, scoring seven points on three goals and one assist.

MSU and Manning wasted no time scoring, as they recorded three goals in the first six minutes of the game. Manning scored the first two - her first coming off a pass from sophomore Floor Rijpma on the right side, which she tipped past Kent State goalkeeper Kara Copeland just 20 seconds into the game. Her second goal came at 2:36, as she stickhandled around the defenders and scored an unassisted goal in the front of the net.

Rijpma scored the third goal of the game on a penalty corner, with the assist going to Charlotte van der Laag to put the Spartans up 3-0 at 5:51. Kent State answered back, scoring in the 17th minute of the first half, as sophomore Laurie Wilkins recorded an unassisted goal in front of the MSU net.

The second half went much the same for the Spartans, as MSU continued to score and clamped down on defense. At 44:26 into the game, senior Kathryn Elenz-Martin drew the Kent State defense in, moiving the ball through the defenders to a waiting Manning, who slapped in her third goal of the game Just over four minutes later, (48:30), Manning returned the favor, setting up Elenz-Martin for the last MSU score of the day, her eighth on the season.

"Today was a great win to finish the season - it shows us where we are for the Big Ten tournament," said head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof. "After a great game against Iowa yesterday, today was a understandably a big challenge. We did some good things, and some not so good things, today. We know what we have to do in order to be where we want to for the Big Ten tournament."

Michigan State heads to Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday for the Big Ten Tournament, hosted by Ohio State. The tournament kicks off with first-round action on Nov. 1, concluding with the championship game on Nov. 4. The Spartans defeated Iowa, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon, assuring them the No. 2 seed with a 5-1 record in conference play.