No. 16 Men's Soccer Dominates Western Michigan, 4-0

Oct. 15, 2014

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The No. 16 Michigan State men's soccer team dominated Western Michigan for a 4-0 victory on Wednesday afternoon. The Spartans improve to 8-2-2 on the season. Junior goalkeeper Zach Bennett earned his ninth shutout of the season and junior midfielder Jason Stacy totaled five points.

"We've been asking for a full 90-minute performance from the team and us coaches are never satisfied," said head coach Damon Rensing. "This is certainly the closest thing we've had. I was proud of our mentality coming out on a Wednesday afternoon...that's not the easiest environment, but our guys started right. Right from the start, they were sharp and I could tell that the leaders came to play. Everything just followed suit.

"We talk about a lot of different goals here at Michigan State...you want to be regarded as the best team in the state. There are a lot of good programs here - Michigan...Western, Detroit, Oakland... This is our first in-state game and we set the tone."

MSU netted its first goal of the game in the 4th minute. Junior midfielder Jay Chapman headed the ball in from the box off a free kick from Stacy on the far left side of the net. This was Chapman's second goal of the season and the fourth assist for Stacy.

In the 22nd minute, Stacy caught a chance off a clear from Western Michigan. He struck a rocket from 25 yards out to land it in the top right corner of the net. This was Stacy's third goal of the season.

"It's not too often where you get to score a goal like that," said Stacy. "It's probably the best goal I've ever scored in my career. You always look for opportunities like that. Fortunately, the ball got knocked out, bouncing around near the 30-yard line. In training, you get to hit bangers like that, half volleys. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't; you just keep your head down on the ball and give it a good go. I was fortunate enough to have it end up in the back of the net."

Michigan State maintained the 2-0 lead for the remainder of the half. The Spartans matched the Broncos in shots eight for eight, with a couple of chances late in the half from Jerome Cristobal. Zach Bennett totaled three saves in the first half.

Zach Carroll scored his third goal of the season in the 49th minute of the game. Carroll volleyed it in on a set piece from Stacy. Stacy also set up the Spartans for a fourth goal on a corner kick. Senior midfielder Fatai Alashe scored on a header off Stacy's third assist of the game in the 56th minute.

Stacy totaled five points in today's game from a goal and three assists. He now owns 12 points this season as the team's leading scorer.

"Probably the goal of the year for Michigan State, I mean, what a strike he had to get them going," Rensing said. "He is obviously very good on restarts.

"I thought our forwards, Adam (Montague) and Tim (Kreutz) held the ball up and that brought Jay and Fatai into the middle. That also brought our wide players in - that's where Jason and these guys get going."

Bennett totaled eight saves in his ninth shutout of the season. Bennett has previously led the Big Ten in shutouts and in goals against average.

MSU utilized its reserves for today's shutout. A total of 22 Spartans appeared in today's game.

"It's (getting players in the game) important for a lot of reasons," said Rensing. "I think we've got some guys that probably deserve more minutes. It's hard to give them minutes and we can get extra looks with them from that. Also, those guys, that played at the end, work as hard as the starters in practice and a lot of times maybe they don't get the reward by playing. Every single one of those guys deserved to get these minutes."

Michigan State follows up this week traveling to Big Ten leader Penn State on Saturday, Oct. 18 for a game at 7 p.m.

"It's going to be exciting," Rensing said. "It's a great place to play up there in State College. They're playing really well, ranked high nationally. I think it's going to be a great Big Ten game. It will be two good teams...and a pretty entertaining game. It'll be a tough 90 minutes for sure."

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Team Stats

Jason Stacy

Zach Carroll

Jay Chapman

Fatai Alashe

Players Mentioned

Fatai Alashe

Zach Bennett

Zach Carroll

Jay Chapman

Jerome Cristobal

Jason Stacy