Michigan State University
American
Spartans Down American, 5-1
9/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 5, 2009
Athens, Ohio - Michigan State's Floor Rijpma netted a hat trick - MSU's second in three games this season - to help propel the eighth-ranked Spartans to a 5-1 victory over 14th-ranked American Saturday afternoon in a neutral-site game in Athens, Ohio. Chantae Miller and Jeamie Deacon also scored for MSU, which improves to 2-1 on the season.
We had a great week of practice, and I really think we were ready to go in this game," noted head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof after the contest. "We got things going right away, which resulted in a couple of early goals for us. We executed well on set plays and did a good job controlling our attack."
Rijpma had each of her three goals in the first half, getting on the board first in the fifth minute of play and adding tallies in the 19th and 31st minutes to push MSU to a 3-0 lead at the half. Chantae Miller got her first goal of the season just over two minutes into the second half, and Deacon closed out the scoring in the 54th minute. American got its lone tally from Savannah Graybill with under 10 minutes remaining for the final 5-1 margin.
The Spartans have had multiple-goal scorers in each of their three games this season. Rijpma is the second player with a hat trick - freshman Manouk Vernij opened the season with three goals in her Michigan State debut against Delaware. Jantine Steinmetz had a two-goal effort in an overtime loss to Duke last Sunday.
"We have a great asset in that we are not dependent on just one or two players for all of our offensive output," added the head coach.
The Spartans held a 7-2 shot advantage in the contest, and a 4-2 edge in penalty corners.
Michigan State is back in action on Sunday when it plays again in Athens, this time against host Ohio. Gametime is 1 p.m.
