MSU Advances to B1G Semis With 1-0 Win Over Wildcats

West Lafayette, Ind. – No. 9 Michigan State advanced into the Big Ten semifinals with a 1-0 victory over seventh-seeded Northwestern on Sunday afternoon at Folk Field in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Spartans punch their ticket to St. Louis 🎟️@MSU_wsoccer advances to the B1G semifinals with a 1-0 win against Northwestern 👏 pic.twitter.com/FytlalUwOx
— Big Ten Soccer (@B1GSoccer) November 2, 2025

The Spartans (11-3-5) got a goal in the 73^rd minute from junior Kayla Briggs and the seventh shutout of the year from freshman keeper Noelle Henning to advance into the semifinal round for the first time since 2022. MSU dominated with an 18-1 edge in shot attempts and had eight corners to none for the Wildcats. Northwestern is now 9-4-7 on the season.

MSU had a pair of shots on goal and two corners by the time the game was 13 minutes old. MSU had a few close calls – in all, the Spartans had four first-half corner kicks and a 10-1 edge in shots at the halftime break. In all, MSU held possession more than two-thirds of the game and was patient as it continued to mount offensive attempts.

Henning came up with the save on the only shot on goal she had to face, which came in the first half of the opening 45.

The Big Ten Tournament Championship website will be updated with links and all pertinent information for next weekend's games at Energizer Field in St. Louis.

SCORING

Kayla Briggs with her fifth goal of the season puts the Spartans on top in the 73'. BIG goal for the junior! pic.twitter.com/vXH5CSSyAz
— Michigan State Women's Soccer (@MSU_wsoccer) November 2, 2025

73' –MSU 1, NW 0 -- Ava Lutke had the ball on the near side, and tried to push it into the middle. It was tipped by the Northwestern defender, but Emerson Sargeant got a foot on the ball to redirect it to Regan Dalton. Dalton sent the lead pass for Kayla Briggs, who dribbled it into the penalty area and launched a rocket right between two defenders and scored her fifth goal of the season.

MATCH NOTES

After consecutive quarterfinal losses in 2023 and 2024, MSU advances to the Big Ten semifinals for the second time under Jeff Hosler. MSU advanced to the Big Ten final in 2022 as the No. 1 seed after wins over Minnesota (2-1) and Nebraska (2-1).
Sunday's win was the 299th in the head coaching career of Jeff Hosler at Alma, Grand Valley, and MSU. He is now 66-17-19 in five seasons as the Spartan mentor.
This is MSU's first-ever No. 2 seed in the B1G tournament. MSU has twice been the No. 4 and twice the No. 1 under Hosler before finished second this year, two points behind Big Ten Champion Washington.
The B1G championship weekend features the top three seeds (Washington, MSU, and UCLA) along with No. 5 seed Wisconsin, which beat fourth-seeded Iowa, 3-0.
Kayla Briggs is now tied for second on the team in goals (5) and leads the squad with seven assists. Both are career bests – and her 17 points matches her career totals from her first two collegiate seasons at Providence.
Noelle Henning now has back-to-back shutouts – both 1-0 scores on consecutive Sundays – for her first consecutive shutouts of her career. She pushed her total to seven on the season and now owns a 9-3-3 overall record.
Regan Dalton had her first assist of the season (and first point since 2023) with the primary helper on Briggs' goal. Her 2024 season after 30 minutes with a season-ending injury.

UP NEXT
The Spartans head to St. Louis for the league semifinals, which begin on Thursday afternoon. The Spartans will take on third-seeded UCLA. The teams met in East Lansing back in late September and settled on a 1-1 deadlock.

Team Stats

Kayla Briggs

Regan Dalton

Emerson Sargeant

Bella Najera

Players Mentioned

Kayla Briggs

Regan Dalton

Noelle Henning

Ava Lutke

Emerson Sargeant