Women's Soccer Ties Michigan, 0-0

Oct. 11, 2009

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EAST LANSING, Mich. - For the third consecutive season, and fifth time in the last 11 meetings, the Michigan State women's soccer team tied Michigan - playing the Wolverines to a 0-0 draw on Sunday (Oct. 11) afternoon at DeMartin Stadium. The Spartans outshot and out-chanced the Wolverines but couldn't find the back of the net and picked up their fourth tie of the year. MSU is now 7-1-4 overall and 1-1-2 in conference play while Michigan is 5-6-2 and 0-1-2 in the Big Ten.

"I have to give them credit, they played very good team defense," said MSU head coach Tom Saxton. "I thought we got better and better at attacking the flanks as the game went on and we left a few chances out there, but that's soccer sometimes."

Laura Heyboer had the best chance for either team early on as she drilled a rebound shot from 15 yards out in the 10th minute but Michigan goalkeeper Haley Kopmeyer was in perfect position and made the stop.

The Spartans had another chance later in the first half when Heyboer led Megan Pines with a well-placed pass to the left side of the field that Pines just couldn't catch up to before Kopmeyer scooped up the ball.

Just over 20 minutes into the second half, Heyboer took long pass into the penalty area from Olivia Stander, but Kopmeyer got a hand on the ball before Heyboer could get off a clean shot.

Michigan State had several scoring chances off crosses into the box in the second half, but came away empty each time.

"It's a positive to come out of this game and say we had chances to score," Heyboer said. "We definitely dominated offensively and forced them to play a lot more defense than offense."

The best scoring opportunity of overtime came in the first session when Heyboer had a shot from six yards out that Kopmeyer deflected away harmlessly.

Heyboer finished with a match-high five shots, including four on goal.

Michigan State will return to action on Thursday (Oct. 15) when it travels to Loyola Chicago for a 6 p.m. match.