Knull Wins 100th in 5-0 Win Over Colgate

East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State earned a 5-0 victory over Colgate at home on Sunday, and in the process provided head coach Helen Knull her 100^th career victory. Bianca Pizano had a pair of goals for the Spartans (4-2), while Spartan sophomore Lyra Gavino earned her first career shutout.

MSU (4-2) led 1-0 at the half and held a 5-2 advantage in shots in the first 30 minutes. The Spartan offense clicked in the second half, scoring twice in each of the third and fourth quarters and putting a combined 16 shots on the board while limiting Colgate (1-4) to three and a total of five in the game. Gavino made two saves on the day, and Claire vanKempen made 10 saves for the Raiders.

Pizano had the only goal of the first half. She got the ball at the top left side of the circle, dribbled past a defender, and sent a shot that made it past vanKempen at 9:56 of the first quarter.

In the third quarter, a pair of Spartan seniors made it a 3-0 game. Jillian Bonczewski deflected an Ellie Wheatley feed in front for her second goal of the season at 40:13, and Emma O'Neill padded the lead in the final seconds of the third when she tipped a Carmen Pucheta shot on MSU's second consecutive corner play with just one second remaining in the period.

In the fourth quarter, sophomore Brynn Shaffer set up Pizano for her second goal of the game (54:25), pushing her season goal total to five. Freshman Lilian Knorr gave the Spartans a final 5-0 margin with her first career goal with just 2:30 remaining in the contest off an assist from Ellie Rutherford.

The Spartans begin Big Ten play next weekend. MSU travels to Ohio State for a 4 pm game on Friday that will air on BTN+.

NOTES:

Michigan State has matched its win total from 2023 (4) just six games into the season. Both of MSU's losses in 2024 have come in overtime.
Helen Knull earned her 100^th career victory. In her 14^th season, she is the longest-tenured coach in program history and owns the second-most wins of any mentor since the start of the program in the 1972 season.
The 2023 offensively-challenged Spartans scored 17 goals in 16 games on the season. MSU has scored 19 through six games in 2024.
Bianca Pizano had her second two-goal game of the season. Her five goals would have been the team lead for the entire 2023 season.
Sophomore Lyra Gavino picked up her first career shutout, making two saves. She has started every game for MSU this season and owns a 1.76 goals-against average on the year.
Emma O'Neill scored her second goal of the season today and leads the team with four assists. Her eight points on the year is two shy of matching her career best of 10 in 2022.
Jillian Bonczewski's three goals is a career high in both goals and points for the senior.
Ellie Rutherford picked up an assist on Lilian Knorr's first career collegiate goal. She has a career-best three assists to go along with her two goals (seven points).

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Team Stats

Bianca Pizano

Emma O'Neill

Jillian Bonczewski

Lilian Knorr

Players Mentioned

Jillian Bonczewski

Lyra Gavino

Lilian Knorr

Emma O'Neill

Bianca Pizano

Carmen Pucheta

Ellie Rutherford

Brynn Shaffer

Ellie Wheatley

Players Mentioned

Jillian Bonczewski

Lyra Gavino

Lilian Knorr

Emma O'Neill

Bianca Pizano

Carmen Pucheta

Ellie Rutherford

Brynn Shaffer

Ellie Wheatley