Zorn's Late Saves Preserve 0-0 Tie With Dayton

East Lansing, Mich. – No. 12 Michigan State played to a 0-0 draw in its home opener against Dayton. The Spartans open their season with a pair of ties in the first week of the campaign and are 0-0-2. Dayton is now 1-0-1. This is the first time in program history that MSU has tied each of its first two games.

MSU had its stretches where it came at Dayton in waves, and went deep into its bench to keep fresh legs at both ends of the field. The Spartans had four good looks late in the first half at Dayton keeper Batoul Reda (notably from Emerson Sargeant, Kayla Briggs, and Kennedy Bell) , compiling five shots to Dayton's three. The Flyers did have three corners in the opening 45 to just one for MSU.

In the second half, MSU was dominant on the scoresheet early, but the Flyers orchestrated a late push – including a free kick and an attempt by Olivia Baca that Kennedy Zorn punched over the crossbar - in the last two minutes. Bell had one last run for the Spartans as time expired. Each team had six shot attempts in the final frame, and Dayton had two corners to MSU's one.

Zorn finished the game with four saves, three coming in the second half. Reda had two saves, one in each frame for Dayton.

SCORING
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MATCH NOTES

The Spartans outshot their visitors 11-9, but Dayton got more on net, with Kennedy Zorn recording four saves and Batoul Reda making two for Dayton.
Zorn made her first collegiate start for MSU, and also recorded her first collegiate shutout with the four saves.
Emerson Sargeant led MSU with three shot attempts, with Bella Najera, Kennedy Bell, and Renee Watson each launching two.
Defensive anchor Maggie Illig played all 90 minutes, MSU's only field player to do so. Najera logged 80 minutes, and freshman Ava Lutke played 74. A total of 21 players saw the field for MSU.
Four yellow cards were issued in the game – two for each side. MSU had 11 fouls to seven for Dayton.

UP NEXT
The Spartans welcome NC State to DeMartin on Thursday for a 7:30 pm game. It is the back end of a Spartan soccer doubleheader, as the men host UC-Riverside at 5 pm.

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Team Stats

Emerson Sargeant

Bella Najera

Kennedy Bell

Renee Watson

Players Mentioned

Kennedy Bell

Kayla Briggs

Maggie Illig

Ava Lutke

Bella Najera

Emerson Sargeant

Renee Watson

Kennedy Zorn