MSU Begins Big Ten Conference Play This Weekend
9/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan State women's soccer team begins the Big Ten Conference season this weekend. The Spartans will take to the road for the pair of games, meeting Nebraska on Friday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET, followed by a matchup against Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 2 p.m. The game between Michigan State and Iowa will be streamed on BTN2Go.com
WEEKEND RECAP The Michigan State Spartans split last weekend in two home contests. The Spartans fell to Oregon State 2-1 (OT) on Sept. 9, before snapping a two-game losing streak and defeating Detroit 2-0 on Sept. 11.
Despite an early penalty kick goal in the 16th minute from senior Marisa Oleksiak, Oregon State managed to score the equalizer in the 84th minute. The Beavers then replied with the game-winning goal in the 99th minute.
Against Detroit, Freshman Hannah Jones scored her first career goal as a Spartan on an assist from junior Jamie Cheslik in the 21st minute to give MSU the 1-0 advantage. Cheslik added the insurance goal in the 70th minute on an assist from junior Morgan McKerchie to give Michigan State the 2-0 victory.
SCOUTING THE HUSKERS The Huskers rounded out their non-conference schedule with a 6-2-0 mark.
Nebraska is coming off of a 5-2 road loss to No. 13 Clemson. The Huskers have an unblemished record of 4-0 at home this season.
Nebraska's 6-2-0 record is its best eight-game start since 2010, when the Huskers began the season with an identical mark. The team has won six of eight games despite being outshot by a combined total of 93-76, including a 44-36 deficit in shots on goal.
Jaycie Johnson and Haley Hanson lead the Huskers with three goals each. Johnson leads the team with eight points after nabbing two assists on top of her three goals.
Aubrei Corder has played in every game this season as the goalkeeper, allowing only 10 goals.
Michigan State holds the all-time series record over Nebraska at 3-1-1. On the road against the Huskers, the Spartans are 1-1-0.
SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES Iowa currently has a record of 6-2-0 but will face off against the University of Michigan before the Michigan State and Iowa matchup.
Iowa is coming off of 4-1 loss to Colorado, but has had a six-game winning streak this season from Aug. 21-Sept. 9, marking the longest in program history since 2013.
The Hawkeyes have had 11 different players score this season, eight of which have scored their first career goal as Hawkeye.
Bri Toelle leads Iowa with five goals and is closely followed by Karly Stuenkel who has notched four goals and a tied team-high of three assists.
Michigan State leads the all-time series record with Iowa at 9-6-5.
CAPTAINS Michigan state has three captains this season, senior Marisa Oleksiak, senior Kaitlyn Collin, and senior Jessica Kjellstrom. Oleksiak and Collin have started every single game this season and Kjellstrom has started four since returning from an injury.
SAXTON SAYS
On non-conference play... "The back-to-back weekend games do take their toll, but the biggest key is it does help us mentally because we know what it is like to go Friday then turn around and play Sunday. That is what we are going to have to do this weekend, so hopefully the way we bounced back against Detroit is something we can take positives out of, even though we were probably a little bit tired in our legs but our mind led us and we played a good game.
"We know our team strengths and weaknesses now after playing a good non-league schedule. Now what we will do is try to build up our strengths, which are team defending, defensive restarts, and counter attack. We will play off our identity and what we do well."
On the upcoming weekend... "Both Nebraska and Iowa have had very good non-league records, Nebraska against a very good schedule and Iowa got on a good roll with some games they probably should have won, quite frankly. I think both teams are confident going in to their opening weekend, and they are at home so they are going to feel both the confidence and maybe a little bit of pressure that they need to open up strong.
"We have to make sure that we are equally confident and part of that is just having the right game plan. We have absorbed all kinds of knowledge against both teams, watched a lot of film, and I think both games will be close games. We have to make sure we do our job in all phases of the game, so I will really be paying attention in how we defend as a team.
"I almost look at the Baylor game and Colorado game as kind of prototypes because they were good even matches, and then someone just has to make a play. Overall, that is how I see us succeeding this weekend."
STATS, STATS, STATS Senior Kaitlyn Collin is leading the Big Ten Conference in saves (46) and saves per game (6.60). She is also ranked fifth in shutouts with three this season in seven total games.
As only a junior, Jamie Cheslik is currently tied for 28th all-time with 34 points, and is tied for 30th all-time with 12 goals.
Senior Marisa Oleksiak is currently leading the team with three goals, all three of which have been penalty kick goals.
FRESHMAN ROLES Six freshman have contributed this year on the field, all starting in at least one game of the season.
Hannah Jones has started in every game this season, and has netted her first career goal as a Spartan.
UP NEXT After this weekend Michigan State will have another road game at the University of Michigan on Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. The Spartans will then return home for a pair of weekend home games against Maryland on Sept. 29 and Rutgers on Oct. 10.
