Spartans Tangle With Purdue on Sunday

No. 2/3 Michigan State (10-1-2, 6-1 B1G) at No. --/25 Purdue (11-1-2, 5-1-1 B1G)
Dates/Location	Sunday, Oct. 11 \| 1 pm Folk Field \| West Lafayette, Ind.
Television	none
Webstream	B1G+
Live Stats	Click Here
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Purdue
Social Media	Facebook X Instagram

What you need to know about Michigan State women's soccer

• Michigan State finishes the fifth week of Big Ten play on Sunday at Purdue.    MSU is coming off a 4-0 victory over Minnesota at home on Thursday, while the Boilermakers survived a wild second half in a 6-5 win at Folk Field against Michigan.

• Purdue is enjoying its finest season since a 15-win campaign in 2021, owning a 11-1-2 record after the Thursday result vs. the Wolverines. Richard Moodie is in his third season in West Lafayette and owns a 24-20-7 record with the Boilers.   The Spartans are 16-10-2 all-time against Purdue, with 3-1 victories in the last two meetings (2022, 2024), both in East Lansing.

•   MSU scored twice in each half and got a five-point effort from Kennedy Bell on Thursday when it recorded a 4-0 shutout victory over Minnesota. Emerson Sargeant had a goal and an assist, and Noelle Henning made three saves. MSU was able to go to its bench liberally in the game, using 21 field players who each played at least five minutes.

• At 10-1-2, the Spartans have reached double-digit wins in 13 games, the quickest in the Jeff Hosler era - the 2022 team earned win No. 10 in game 15, on Oct. 13 vs. Indiana. This is the third-fastest any MSU has earned 10 wins in program history. The 2008 squad won 10 of its first 11, and the 2011 team won 10 of its first 12.

• Michigan State maintains its No. 2 ranking in the IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches national poll this week and has been among the top five in that poll in every playing week this season. The Spartans maintained their No. 3 ranking in the Top Drawer Soccer poll, and the schedule features eight teams that appear in the current Top 25 (or receiving votes) in either the IWSOC or Top Drawer Soccer national polls. The first RPI rankings of 2026 were released on Sept. 21, and the Spartans continue to hold down the No. 1 spot in week three.

• MSU is one of four teams in the Big Ten with just one loss this season overall, and no team has gone undefeated through seven games of Conference play. MSU is currently tied for the top spot, sharing a 6-1 record (18 points) with Ohio State and UCLA. The Spartans have a head-to-head win over UCLA but are not scheduled to take on the Buckeyes in the regular season.

• MSU's 29 total goals rank second in the Big Ten (31st, NCAA), and the Spartans lead the league and rank fourth nationally in corner kicks (8.38).

• The Spartan defense has posted three consecutive shutouts of Big Ten opponents: vs. Washington (Sept. 27), Illinois (Oct. 4) and Minnesota (Oct. 8). MSU had three straight clean sheets in non-conference games in each of the last two seasons but last posted three consecutive B1G shutouts in 2022 vs. Maryland, Michigan, and Indiana.

• With eight shutouts on the season (13 GP), MSU shares the conference lead in shutout percentage (.615) with Washington, and ranks 17th in the country. MSU's team GAA is .846, good for eighth in the Big Ten. MSU had 10 shutouts in 25 games a year ago, and the school record is 13, set in 1987.

• In Big Ten games only, MSU is second to Purdue in goals (19-18), leads the league in corner kicks (59), and shutouts (5), and ranks fifth in goals allowed (5).

• MSU's defense has held opponents to just 125 shot attempts in 13 games, with 43 on target. The Spartans have forced opposing keepers to average more than five saves per game over 12 contests (5.54), and MSU has averaged 17.61 shot attempts per game (3rd B1G/16th nationally). Spartan keepers average 2.46 saves per game with an 0.85 GAA.

• Jeff Hosler has coached his teams to a 41-8-10 record in Big Ten games since coming to MSU. In his first season (2021), the Spartans went 5-4-1 in conference play and are 36-4-9 in the four-plus years since. He is 80-21-22 at MSU overall, and 313-88-40 in his head coaching career (21st season).

• Kennedy Bell and Kayla Briggs were named to the 2026 Hermann Trophy Mid-Season Watch List, announced Sept. 30 by the Intercollegiate Women's Soccer Organization for Coaches (IWSOC), in partnership with United Soccer Coaches. Both were on the preseason watch list that contained 62 athletes, and that list has been narrowed to 30 athletes at mid-season.   MSU is one of seven schools nationally (and just two in the Big Ten) to have two midseason honorees.

• Bell paced Michigan State with a pair of goals and an assist in Thursday's victory over Minnesota.   Through 13 games, the senior ranks third in the Big Ten in goals (8) and points (22) and is fourth in assists (6). A year ago, she led the Big Ten in both points (29) and goals (11) in 25 games.

• Bell now has 51 points (19g, 13a) in her 38 career games as a Spartan. She is the 24th player in program history to achieve 50 points, ranking 21st in career points and 19th in career goals. Combined with two seasons at Maryland, (74 games), she owns a 22-16-60 scoring line.

• Kayla Briggs has posted 18 points on five goals and a career-best eight assists (first, B1G/sixth nationally).   Her eight assists is tied for 15th in a single season at MSU.

• Briggs has the game-winning goal in four of MSU's nine wins this year (3rd, B1G/12th nationally). With nine game-winners in her 33 games as a Spartan, Briggs ranks ninth all-time in MSU history. She led the Spartans in that category a year ago with five (fourth all-time in a single season at MSU). In addition to being responsible for four Spartan game-winners in 2026, Briggs has also had the primary assist on two others (including the last two games vs. Illinois and Minnesota).

• Noelle Henning recently returned to MSU's active roster after a month at the U20 Women's World Cup and has posted clean sheets in each of her first three games back in the lineup. She recorded two saves vs. Washington (9/27) and three at Illinois (10/4) and vs. Minnesota (10/8). On the year, Henning has produced five shutouts in six games for Michigan State. She boasts a 0.33 GAA, and .895 save percentage. Her 13 career shutouts is seventh all-time in MSU's record book.

• Emerson Sargeant opened Thursday's scoring with a header that put MSU on the board in the seventh minute vs. Minnesota and added an assist on Kennedy Bell's first score (30'). She now boasts career totals of 17 goals and 20 assists (54 points); she is tied for 17th in points in the Spartan record book and ninth all-time in assists. Her 17 goals sit one outside MSU's all-time top 20, and her eight career game-winners ranks in a tie for 10th. She is the 23rd player in program history to achieve 50 points.

• Bella Najera played the role of hero for the Spartans at Illinois last Sunday, scoring the game-winner at 85:30.   She also assisted on Sargeant's game-winner vs. the Gophers and now has a point in three of MSU's last four games. Last Sunday's score was her 27th career goal (tied for 10th all-time at MSU) and her 10th career game-winner, which is tied for fifth place. The senior – the most prolific scorer of the Jeff Hosler era at MSU – is now ninth in career points (73) and is 12th in career assists (19).

• Ella Janz had MSU's fourth goal vs. Minnesota on Thursday, finishing off a nifty pass from Kennedy Bell. She now has three goals and eight points, career bests in both categories. She had the game-winner vs. Washington (9/27) and was also the hero at Notre Dame (9/3) when her header beat the clock as well as Irish keeper Sonoma Kasica, recording the game-tying goal at 89:56. She has started all 13 games for the Spartans after starting three of 41 games in her first three seasons.

• Kaleigh McPherson is in her second season as a full-time starter for MSU and is often overlooked as kudos are handed out. The holding mid was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team in 2024 and had a goal and two assists in 2025. She has started 49 of her 60 career games and recorded her first point of the season vs. Minnesota when she set up Kennedy Bell for her second score of the game.

• Freshmen Lacey Kindel and Samantha Powell have been named to Canada's 21-player roster for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Morocco. The duo departed on Tuesday for the pre-tournament camp, and the first game will be Oct. 18 vs. Brazil. The duo are among the three US collegiate players on the roster.

• Ava Lutke has played all 13 games, averaging 41 minutes per with one start (against Colorado).   She played a team-high 85 minutes on Thursday vs. Minnesota. Lutke started 11 of the 22 games she played a year ago, including every game in the NCAA Tournament. She averaged 60 minutes per game, the most of any freshman field player. She scored a goal and an assist in her first collegiate season.

What you need to know about Michigan State women's soccer

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kennedy Bell

Kayla Briggs

Noelle Henning

Lacey Kindel

Ava Lutke

Bella Najera

Samantha Powell

Emerson Sargeant

Michigan State University Athletics