Spartans Advance With 4-1 Win Over Milwaukee

Friday, November 14

6 pm

Michigan State University

13-3-6, 7-1-3

Milwaukee

13-5-3, 8-0-2

Milwaukee

Michigan State

11/14/2025 11:33:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

East Lansing, Mich. -- No. 9 Michigan State scored three second-half tallies to defeat Milwaukee, 4-1, in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at DeMartin Stadium on Friday night.

The Spartans got goals from each of its top three scorers on the season – Kennedy Bell put the Spartans up 1-0 in the 20^th minute, and Kayla Briggs and Emerson Sargeant scored three minutes apart early in the second half to open up a tight score. Adelle Francis scored her second of the season in the 68^th minute to give MSU its fourth of the day. The Panthers scored to make it 4-1 in th 77^th minute, but the Spartans shut it down after that to advance into the second round next Thursday.

MSU (13-3-6) will play seventh-seeded Wake Forest (11-4-4) next Thursday at 6 pm. The Demon Deacons downed South Carolina 2-1 on Thursday.

While the scoreboard read a slim 1-0 lead for the Spartans on the scoreboard, MSU dominated with a 15-2 edge in shot attempts and controlled possession 76%-24%. Looking to control the pace of play from the opening whistle, MSU forced keeper Bella Hollenbach to make three saves in the opening 20 minutes of the game and six total in the opening half. Bell scored her 11^th goal of the season at 19:43, forcing a turnover to go in alone on Hallenbeck and beat the keeper into the lower left corner.

Briggs opened the second half with her seventh goal of the year in the 54^th minute, with Sargeant finding her target three minutes later to make it a 3-0 gme. Coming off the bench in the 73^rd minute, Adelle Francis recovered an intercepted crossing pass and scored her second goal of the season.

Sofia Beerworth, Kaleigh McPherson, and Sophia Piotrowski all had assists for MSU, which finished with a 23-5 edge in shot attempts and 9-1 edge in corners. Hollenbach finished with nine saves, and Noelle Henning made two saves – both in the second half – to secure her first-ever NCAA Tournament vicory.

SCORING

Who else? Kennedy Bell forces the turnover at the top of the offensive third and races in to score her 11th gosl of the season. pic.twitter.com/Zb8sQm8MXu
— Michigan State Women's Soccer (@MSU_wsoccer) November 14, 2025

20' –MSU 1, MIL 0 -- Kennedy Bell forced a turnover at top of MSU's offensive third and raced in to put a shot into the bottom right corner. It is her 11^th goal of the season

Beerworth ➡ Briggs = 2-0 Spartans! 54th minute magic for the junior. pic.twitter.com/FxHM0pEZi0
— Michigan State Women's Soccer (@MSU_wsoccer) November 15, 2025

54' –MSU 1, MIL 0 Renee Watson cleared the ball out of a logjam to the right side of the field, and sent it to Sofia Beerworth – Beerworth put it across the top of the box for Briggs, who had a defender on her hip. Briggs put a left-footed offering on net, posting her seventh goal of the year.

Its a 3-0 lead for the Spartans after a nifty pass from Kaleigh McPherson finds Sargeant. Crisp passing from MSU! pic.twitter.com/JJiSM5CQ0n
— Michigan State Women's Soccer (@MSU_wsoccer) November 15, 2025

57' –MSU 3, MIL 0 -- Sophia Piotrowski got the ball to Kaleigh McPherson, who sent a quick dish to her left to Emerson Sargeant, who was going to goal. Sargeant did not miss – she finished her eighth goal of the season.

Pass was intercepted, but Adelle Francis gets it back and scores her second of the season! 4-0 Spartans as we head into the final 20 minutes. pic.twitter.com/2fKTIk4hNP
— Michigan State Women's Soccer (@MSU_wsoccer) November 15, 2025

68' –MSU 4, MIL 0 -- Adelle Francis, who entered the game in the 63^rd minute, made an immediate impact with her second goal of the season. A crossing pass intended for Shelby Vaughn was attempted for a redirect out of danger by the Milwaukee defender, and Francis was at the left side of the net to collect it herself for her second of the season.

77' –MSU 4, MIL 1 -- Zoey Pagels carried the ball to the top of the box, and ran into trouble with a Spartan defender attempting to clear the ball out of danger. Pagels found Lola Wojcik to her left, and Wojcik had space to put a shot on net that found its mark, her 10^th goal of the season.

Notables

The Spartans have won at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last four seasons.
MSU defeated Milwaukee for the third time in NCAA Tournament play – the 2008 Spartans won 2-1 over the Panthers, and also posted a 3-2 overtime victory in 2022 at DeMartin Stadium.
This was the second meeting of the teams this year – MSU scored a 9-0 win on Aug. 24, and then earned the Friday night win. The Spartans have outscored Milwaukee 16-3 over the last three meetings of the teams.
MSU is now 8-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and 6-3 under Jeff Hosler.
Milwaukee keeper Bella Hollenbach, who made five saves in the first meeting of the teams in August, had five saves in the first 30 minutes of the game and finished with nine. That matches the season high for any opposing keeper – Illinois' Izzy Lee made nine saves in MSU's 5-1 win on Oct. 19.
Kennedy Bell's goal in the first half was her 11^th of the season. That moves her into a tie for 11^th place in a single-season in goals, and her 28 points is tied for 13^th. She is the highest-scoring player in MSU's Jeff Hosler era.
Kayla Briggs added to her career-best offensive season with seventh score. She has 21 points on seven goals and a team-best seven assists. She has points in 12 of MSU's 22 games.
Emerson Sargeant took a nifty pass from sophomore Kaleigh McPherson to set up her eighth goal of the season. Sargeant has a team-best three goals in the postseason.
Sargeant has all eight of her goals and two of her three assists since the Minnesota game on Sept. 25. She has nearly half of her career points in 2025 – she owns a 8-3-19 scoring line as a redshirt junior and a career scoring line of 12-16-40
Adelle Francis scored her second goal of the season – both have come against Milwaukee.
Kayleigh McPherson's assist was her second of the season.
Sophia Piotrowski picked up her first assist of the season with the assist on the Sargeant score.
Sofia Beerworth earned the assist on Briggs' goal, her third of the season (and fifth point).

UP NEXT
Michigan State will host second and third-round matches at DeMartin Stadium next week. MSU will square off with seventh-seeded Wake Forest on Thursday at 6 pm.