Michigan State University
Northwestern
Shutout City: Spartans Down Northwestern, 1-0
10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 17, 2010
East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State extended its unbeaten streak to five games on Sunday, downing Northwestern, 1-0, at DeMartin Stadium. Olivia Stander scored the late goal for the Spartans, who improve to 9-3-2 overall and 3-1-1 in the Big Ten. Junior Jill Flietstra notched her fifth consecutive shutout with five saves. Northwestern is 5-7-3, 1-4-1 Big Ten.
Michigan State's veteran defense, combined with the continued strong play of Flietstra, extended the team's shutout streak to 540:28. Flietstra and the Spartan defense have pitched shutouts in 11 of the squad's 14 games, have not allowed a goal this season at DeMartin Stadium, and have not allowed a goal in the run of play dating back to the Wisconsin-Milwaukee game on Sept. 5 (the lone marker against the Spartans in that stretch of 896:09 is a penalty-kick goal in a 1-0 loss at Penn State on Sept. 26). Flietstra's 11 shutouts is one shy of the school single-season mark of 12, set by Nicole Galas in 2005.
Stander's tally came in the 77th minute on a corner kick. Megan Pines had just re-entered the game, and took the kick from the right corner; senior Cara Freeman got a head on the ball, and it fell directly to the foot of Stander. The sophomore redirected it into the left corner of the net for her seventh goal of the season, and all the Spartans would need for their ninth victory of the year.
MSU had a goal called back in the 39th minute, when junior Laura Heyboer looked like she had her record-setting 40th career tally, which would have given her the MSU career goal-scoring record outright. However, the officials whistled it back on an offsides call.
The Spartans will have a big Conference series on tap next weekend, when they travel to take on Wisconsin (Fri., 8 p.m.) and Minnesota (Sun., 2 p.m.) for a pair of Big Ten games.
