Women's Soccer Team Wraps Up Exhibition Play With Tie

Aug. 14, 2016

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw with Samford on Sunday at DeMartin Stadium. It was the Spartans' second and final exhibition game before the regular season begins next week.

"I was happy when the opportunity came about to play Samford cause they are one of the best mid-major programs in the country," stated head coach Tom Saxton. "Year in and year out they are at the top of their league, they play a really top level non-league schedule so this was the kind of physical match up and the kind of athletes we are going to go against in the Big Ten so this was a really good match up for us."

The Spartans snapped the deadlock in the 79th minute when Marisa Oleksiak converted on a penalty kick.

Samford tied the game exactly four minutes later when Courtney Hendrickson knocked in a ball from five feet out. Malcanisha Kelley set up the goal with a cross from the far right side.

"I like the fight, we had tired legs," said Saxton. "Samford came in fresh, we are coming off of Friday, but being an exhibition that was probably a good test for us. But you know tired legs but a fighting spirit. Unfortunate that we conceded late like that, that'll be a lesson for them but I like the way we especially stepped up in the half and got the first goal."

Michigan State's best scoring chance came in the first half came when Celia Oatis' shot from 16 yards out rose toward the net, but bounced off the crossbar.

Samford had a pair of quality scoring chances in the second half, both off headers in the box. The first came from Virginia McNeill, but was stopped by a pair of Spartan defenders on the goal line. MSU goalkeeper Olivia Argeros foiled the other Samford header that came off a corner kick when she knocked down Olivia Cole's attempt from 5 yards out.

"First thing is recovery for the next couple days, coming off of a two game weekend," said Saxton. "We have to make some decisions personal wise, we have looked at a lot of players. We have some really exciting newcomers and now we have to figure out how we are going to select our squad for a game that counts."

Michigan State will open the regular season next weekend when it hosts Niagara on Friday (3 p.m.) and then Baylor on Sunday (1 p.m.) at DeMartin Stadium.