Field Hockey Beats St. Louis In Overtime

Sept. 11, 2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State controlled the tempo of the game, but a resilient St. Louis team would not go home quietly, in State's 2-1 overtime win over the Billikens, Saturday afternoon at the MSU Field Hockey Complex.

The Spartans' leading scorer, senior Michelle Huynh-Ba scored her fifth goal of the season at 15:11, off of senior Jessica Miller's assist, putting the Green and White up one. Despite multiple scoring opportunities throughout the game, MSU did not find the back of the net again until overtime.

St. Louis on the other hand, only had one shot on the day, but SLU's Jamie Smeland made it count when she cracked a shot past Spartan goalie Christina Kirkaldy at 42:44, tying the game at 1-1.

MSU pounded the Billiken defense, amassing 22 penalty corners, while totaling 27 shots on the day, but a feisty SLU team withheld the battering, much to the thanks of sophomore goalie Amy Wasserman, who stopped 14 Spartan shots. Forcing overtime, SLU held strong until junior Ashley Pernicano blasted the game winner for the Spartans at 72:28. Freshman Gwen Riley recorded the assist.

"It was a credit to St. Louis, they built a wall in front of that goal and wouldn't let it go in," stated head coach Michele Madison. "They just kept fighting. It was a good thing that this MSU team believed in themselves and could pull it out."

The 6-1 Spartans are back in action next weekend, when they travel to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on Kent State and then the defending national champions and hometown team Wake Forest on Sunday.