Women's Soccer Travels to Northwestern & Wisconsin
10/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 16, 2008
•Cara
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's soccer team will travel to Northwestern and Wisconsin for a pair of Big Ten matches this weekend. The Spartans will face Northwestern (7-6-1) at 8 p.m. ET on Friday and then take on Wisconsin (7-6-1) at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
MSU (12-3, 4-2) has won four of its last six games entering this weekend's play.
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The Opponents: The Spartans are 9-3-2 all time against Northwestern. Despite falling to the Wildcats last season, MSU has won four of the last five games in the series.
MSU is 4-19-2 all time against Wisconsin. The two teams have split the last six meetings with the Spartans winning last year's match, 2-1, in East Lansing.
Freshman Sensation: Laura Heyboer continues to lead the NCAA in points (40) and is tied for first in goals (16). Her 40 points are eight more than any other women's soccer player from a BCS conference.
Through 15 games, her 16 goals rank third on MSU's single-season goals list and are the most since Cindy Wass scored 23 in 1987. Her 40 points also rank third on the school's single-season chart.
The Big Three: Entering Friday, freshman Laura Heyboer (40), junior Lauren Hill (29) and sophomore Cara Freeman (19) rank one, two and three, respectively, in the Big Ten in points. Penn State's Danielle Toney has the most points (18) in the conference for a non-Spartan.
Helping the Cause: Entering Friday's game, junior Lauren Sinacola leads the Big Ten in assists with 10. Her 10 assists also put her in a fourth-place tie on the MSU single-season assists chart. Her 17 career assists rank 10th on the MSU all-time list.
Hill Moving Up the Charts: With 11 goals this season and 27 in her career, Lauren Hill has moved into eighth place on the MSU all-time goals list. Her five game-winning goals this season have given her 11 for her career, moving her into a tie for second on the MSU all-time game-winning goal list. Hill's 29 points this season have moved her into sole possession of ninth place all-time.
A Dozen W's: MSU's 12 wins this season marks the fifth time in the last eight seasons the Spartans have reached a dozen wins. The last time MSU won more than 12 was in 1991 when it won 14 games. Their 10 wins in 11 games this season is the fastest any Spartan team has reached the 10-win plateau in program history.
Offensive Domination: The Spartans' 41 goals this season are the most in program history since 1994 when they scored 45 in the first season of Big Ten women's soccer.
Conference Honors: Laura Heyboer earned her record third Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week award on Monday after scoring four goals and adding one assist in two games last week. Heyboer became the first freshman in conference history to earn the award three times in a season and also set the MSU mark for the most weekly accolades in a season. Fellow forward Lauren Hill garnered the award earlier this season as well as goalkeeper Lindsey Wrege who has won conference Defensive Player of the Week twice this season.
Shutting `Em Down: Goalkeeper Lindsey Wrege ranks second in the conference in shutouts with six and her 0.75 goals-against average also ranks second in the Big Ten. Earlier this season, the Portage native put together a 504-minute shutout streak that spanned five games.
