Spartan Sports Roundup
10/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | General
Oct. 1, 2008
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Spartan Sports Roundup provides a brief overview of the Olympic sports teams in action. Read a recap of last week's action, look ahead to this week's action and find key notes on each team in this weekly recap.
 | Community Outreach |
- The hockey team volunteered at Hike for Hospice on Sunday, Sept. 21. This was held at Hawk Island Park, as a fundraiser for Sparrow Hospice Services.
- Representatives from the softball, baseball, hockey, and men's basketball teams participated in the Fall Into Fitness event to promote healthy lifestyles to the Lansing community on Sept. 27.
- The women's basketball team attended the Teddy Bear Picnic (Sept. 27), a fundraiser for the Children's Health Initiative.
- Extreme Makeover Home Edition - on Friday, Oct. 3, student-athletes, coaches, and staff from the department are going to the home from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
| Homecoming |
The Michigan State homecoming committee has announced a slew of former MSU athletes as its Homecoming Parade Grand Marshal in 2008. In honor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, MSU has chosen every Olympic participant that attended Michigan State to serve as the 2008 Grand Marshal, a list of almost 30 people.
Of those 30 graduates, 17 are either former or current MSU student-athletes or coaches. The track & field, swimming & diving and wrestling programs are well represented. The track program features Solomon Akpata, a 1964 Olympian, Judi Brown Clarke, a 1984 silver medalist, Warren Druetzler, a 1952 Olympian, Kevan Gosper, a silver medalist for Australia in the 1,600m relay and David Lean, a silver medal winner in 1956.
The Spartan swimming and diving program has five representatives: Dave Burgering (1980), Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse (1968), Jorge Gonzalez (1968), James Renuk (1980) and Marilyn Whitney (1968).
MSU Wrestling has four honorees - Don Behm (1968 silver medal winner), Robert Maldegen (1984), Tom Muir (1976), while head wrestling coach Tom Minkel was both an Olympic Athlete (1980) and coach (1992).
Rounding out the field of former Spartan athletes is Harry Kendrick, a former baseball player at MSU, Kevin Miller, a former member of the hockey team and Ernie Tuchsherer, a former men's soccer player.
 Senior Lisa Senakiewich has finished in the top two in the two races she has competed in this year  | |
| Cross Country |
Roster | Schedule
Last Week: The MSU men's and women's teams competed in the William & Mary Inter-Regional on Saturday with the women's team taking first place and the men's team placing second.
This Week: The Spartans will travel to South Bend, Ind., for the 53rd annual Notre Dame Invitational on Friday. The women's team will run at 2 p.m. while the men's team will run at 5 p.m. 19 of the 60 teams competing in the meet are ranked in the top 30 of the USTFCCCA men's or women's polls.
Notes: The Spartans women's team is ranked eighth in the nation in the USTFCCCA preseason poll while the men's team is ranked fourth in the Great Lakes region ... MSU posted the top three finishers in Saturday's 6k women's race as Lisa Senakiewich (Davison, Mich.) with 21:03.1, Nicole Bush (Wyoming, Mich.) at 21:08.2 and Sarah Price (Mankato, Minn.) with 21:31.8. The three were the only runners that finished the race under 22 minutes ... Both Senakiewich and Bush have two top-three finishes this season ... Spencer Beatty (Harbor Springs, Mich.) was the top Spartan finisher on Saturday for the second-straight race this season, finishing fifth overall with a time of 25:10.7 in the 8k race. Beatty has two fifth-place finishes this season.
| Field Hockey |
Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Big Ten Standings | Big Ten Statistics | Big Ten Schedule
Last Week: The 10-ranked Spartans opened Big Ten play at 16th-ranked Ohio State, posting a 3-1 win on Friday. Michigan State returned home on Saturday to face 20th-ranked California, defeating the Golden Bears 3-2 in overtime. Junior Jeamie Deacon (Wexford, Ireland) recorded seven points on the weekend, and had a hand in five of the Spartans six goals.
This Week: Michigan State hosts two games this weekend, beginning on Friday with a Big Ten matchup against Indiana at 6 p.m. The Spartans then face Temple in a non-conference game at noon on Sunday.
Notes: The Spartans are now 9-1 overall, 1-0 in the Big Ten. MSU has started the season at 9-1 two other times - 2002 and 2004. In both seasons, the Spartans advanced to the NCAA Semifinals ... Junior Elissa Unger (Reading, Pa.) has a .714 save percentage and 1.38 goals against average (GAA). She is tied for second in the Big Ten in save percentage, is fourth in saves (35), and third in GAA. She ranks 12th nationally in GAA, and is tied for 38th in save percentage ... Junior Floor Rijpma (Bunnik, Netherlands) leads the team in scoring with 19 points, and Deacon is second with 18 points. Rijpma leads the team with eight goals this season and has a five-game scoring streak. She is tied for 33rd nationally in points per game and is tied for 28th in goals per game. In the Big Ten, she is seventh in points, seventh in points per game, fourth in goals per game and fifth in goals ... After starting the season with just four points in three games, Deacon has tallied 14 points in six games since, seven of which have come in the last two contests. She leads the team with eight assists, is tied for second in the Big Ten in assists, and is eighth in points. Deacon has a six-game point streak, is tied for 15th nationally in assists per game, and is tied for 38th in points per game. She was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 29, the fourth time she's received the honor in her career ... Freshman Chantae Miller (East Amherst, N.Y.) is second on the team with seven goals, and is tied for ninth in the Big Ten in both points and points per game ... Senior Gwen Riley (Louisville, Ky.) is second on the team in assists with seven this season. She ranks sixth in the Big Ten in assists, and is fifth in assists per game ... Junior Angela Pagura (Columbus, Ohio) leads the team with three game-winning goals ... Michigan State is ranked sixth nationally in scoring average (3.83), goals per game (3.90), scoring margin (2.46) and points per game (10.90). MSU is tied for 2nd nationally in winning percentage. The Spartans rank second in scoring margin, first in shots (202) and second in goals scored (39) in the Big Ten. MSU sits atop the Big Ten with a .900 win percentage and the fewest losses so far this season.
| Men's Soccer |
Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Big Ten Standings | Big Ten Statistics | Big Ten Schedule
Last Week: The Spartans went 2-0 last week, picking up a pair of road wins over Western Michigan (6-0) and Penn State (4-3). In Wednesday's win over the Broncos, six different players scored for the Spartans. On Sunday, MSU used a hat trick from Doug DeMartin (Mason, Mich.) to get its first Big Ten win of the year.
This Week: The Spartans will host Wisconsin on Sunday at 1 p.m. The dedication of DeMartin Stadium will precede the contest.
Notes: DeMartin was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 29, the second honor of his career. He scored four goals last week, giving him a career total of 30 and placing him in a tie for seventh on the MSU all-time list ... His 68 career points rank him 12th on MSU's all-time list ... DeMartin's nine goals and 20 points rank first in the Big Ten ... Sunday's win at Penn State was the Spartans' first over the Nittany Lions in State College, Pa., since 2002 ... MSU's six goals in its win over WMU was the most it has scored since a 2004 win over Valparaiso (7-1) ... Sophomore goalkeeper Avery Steinlage (Grand Haven, Mich.) has started the last four games for the Spartans and has a .857 save percentage and a 1.03 goals against average ... Steinlage's 4.80 save per game average ranks second in the conference ... Five true freshman have seen action for the Spartans this season (Domenic Barone, Cyrus Sayde, Stephen Lucianek, Mark Barone, Rubin Bega), with both Saydee and Bega having recorded a goal and at least one assist.
| Men's Tennis |
Roster | Schedule
Last week: Michigan State traveled to Evanston, Ill. to participate in the Northwestern Wildcat Invitational on Friday, Sept. 26 through Sunday, Sept. 28. Freshman Ronnie Hulewicz (Tequesta, Fla.) led the Spartans, advancing to the quarterfinals of singles play. Classmate Austin Brooks (Houston, Texas) recorded wins in singles and doubles consolation play, and others Spartans continued on to in both singles and doubles consolation matches.
Next Up: The Spartans will travel to South Bend, Ind. to compete in the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 10.
| Softball |
Roster | Schedule
This Week: The Spartans will wrap up fall play on Saturday with a doubleheader at Old College Field. MSU will begin play at 11 a.m. with a game against Detroit Mercy, and will face Wayne State at 3 p.m. Michigan State returns nine players from 2008, and welcomes seven new additions to the team. The Spartans open the 2009 season on February 13 with a three-day tournament in Miami, Fla.
| Women's Golf |
Roster | Schedule
This Week: The Spartans travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Lady Tar Heel Invitational, Oct. 3-5. Michigan State began the 2008-09 season by winning its home tournament, the Mary Fossum Invitational, on Sept. 21 at Forest Akers West Golf Course. It marked MSU's fourth straight victory and fifth in the last six years in its home tournament. The Spartans and Kent State were tied at 891 after 54 holes, but by virtue of the tiebreaker, which tallies the non-counting score from the fifth player of each round, MSU held a 2-stroke advantage. Down by as many as eight strokes in the final round and trailing by seven shots with just four holes to play, MSU stormed back to tie the Golden Flashes. Freshman Lindsey Solberg (Verona, Wis.) birdied No. 15 and 16, while junior Laura Kueny (Whitehall, Mich.) made an eagle on 16 and a birdie on 18 to lead the Spartans.
Notes: Playing in her first collegiate tournament, Solberg tied for second overall with a 2-over 218. She shot a 2-under 70 in the final round, the best score of the day, and made two clutch birdies down the stretch on holes No. 15 and 16 as Michigan State rallied for the victory ... Kueny also tied for second, marking her sixth career top-five finish ... Michigan State captured the 2003, 2005 and 2007 Mary Fossum Invitationals and the 2006 Lady Northern Invitational ... The Lady Northern was held in place of the Mary Fossum in 2006 as a preview to the Big Ten Championships ... With the win, the Spartans have now won the Fossum Invitational seven times in the tournament's 25-year history ... The invitational is named after longtime MSU women's golf coach Mary Fossum, who won six Big Ten titles in her tenure from 1973-97.
 The Women's Soccer team is now 10-1 on the season, 2-0 in Big Ten Play | |
| Women's Soccer |
Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Big Ten Standings | Big Ten Statistics | Big Ten Schedule
Last Week: MSU opened conference play last weekend with two shutout wins over Minnesota (Sept. 26) and Iowa (Sept. 28). The Spartans downed then-undefeated Minnesota, 2-0, and then defeated Iowa, 4-0.
This Week: The Spartans will hit the road for two more conference games this weekend. Friday, the Spartans will travel to Illinois to take on the Illini at 8 p.m. EDT and will then meet Purdue on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT.
Notes: MSU's 10 wins in 11 games this season is the fastest any Spartan team has reached the 10-win plateau in program history ... Seven of the Spartans' 10 wins have been shutouts, the most since the team had nine shutout victories in 2005 ... Freshman Laura Heyboer's (Hudsonville, Mich.) 12 goals and 31 points rank her eighth and sixth, respectively, on MSU's single-season goals and points list. She was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 29 for the second time this season ... Junior forward Lauren Hill (Northville, Mich.) has nine goals this season and 25 for her career, while her 23 points this season give her 59 for her career - both put her in ninth place on the MSU all-time list goals and points list ... Heyboer (12 goals, 31 points), Hill (nine goals, 23 points) and Cara Freeman (eight goals, 19 points) continue to rank one, two and three, respectively, in the conference in goals and points ... Lauren Sinacola's 10 assists lead the conference and put her in a tie for fourth on the MSU single-season assist list..
| Women's Tennis |
Roster | Schedule
Last Week: The Spartan women's tennis team completed their first fall tournament at the Spartan Invitational. Pacing the way for the Green and White was doubles tandem of freshman Dana Guentert (Lilburn, Ga.) and sophomore Ally Wickman (Grand Rapids, Mich.) who posted a ledger of 3-0 overall for the weekend. Senior Stephanie Kebler (Okemos, Mich.) competed in the most highly contested match of the weekend, against Charlotte Gibbons of Cleveland State. After falling, 4-6, in the first set, Kebler rallied back in the second and third sets, 6-0 and 6-4, to claim victory over Gibbons.
Next Up: The Spartans will be back in action Oct. 10 to 12 at the Wildcat Invitational in Evanston, Ill.
| Women's Rowing |
Roster | Schedule
This Week: The 2008-09 Michigan State rowing program will continue its fall slate this weekend at Ohio State in a series of controlled races against the Buckeyes. The races will be Saturday, Oct. 4 in Columbus, Ohio. The defending Big Ten Champions will look to build off of a great performance two weeks ago on Belleville Lake in Belleville, Mich. when the Spartans battled Michigan. In five controlled races, MSU dominated Michigan, winning all five. Saturday's event will serve as a tune-up for both teams in hopes of developing their student-athletes in a real-race atmosphere. Each controlled race will be restricted to a maximum of 26 strokes per minute, with each piece lasting under five minutes as the race length will be trimmed from the customary 2,000-meter race to 1,200 meters.
Next Up: Spartan rowing will clash again with Michigan, with the race held in East Lansing. That series of races will be held on Oct. 26 and 27.
Players Mentioned
