Michigan State University
Louisville (Champions Invitational)
MSU Field Hockey Starts Season 0-2
8/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Aug. 27, 2006
DURHAM, N.C. - The Spartan field hockey team was once again unable to come away with a win at the 2006 Champion's Invitational. Louisville scored three second-half goals and never looked back as MSU fell to the Cardinals 4-1 in the consolation final. Michigan State outshot Louisville 23 to 11, but goalie Marie-Claire Heller managed to come away with 17 saves, 7 of which were in the second half, allowing the Cardinals to control the game.
Louisville jumped out to an early lead in the first half with Allison Maffitt scoring the first goal of the game at 5:27. Michigan State senior Ashley Pernicano (San Diego, Calif.) tied the game up at 27:17 on an assist from freshman Floor Rijpa (Bunnik, Netherlands), to knot the score at 1-1 for the rest of the period.
The Cardinals came out charging in the second half, with Casey Deiner posting the game-winner for Louisville at 36:49 and putting an insurance goal up at 51:53. Carrie Jackson added another for Louisville at 56:30, allowing the Cardinals to hold on to a 4-1 advantage for the rest of the game. Spartan freshman goalkeeper Elissa Unger (Reading, Pa.) had 5 saves in the game, as compared to the 17 by Heller.
"We stepped up from yesterday's game and today applied everything that we learned from it , but we need to capitalize on the opportunities that we have," said MSU head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof. "We need to find a way to express our dominance and turn our shots into goals. I think that today's game shows that we are on the right track, and we are continuing to move forward and progress on both offense and defense."
The loss puts Michigan State at 0-2 on the season. The Spartans will have a week to regroup before squaring off against American University in Philadelphia, Pa., on Sept. 2 at 2 p.m.
