Spartans Drop Heartbreaker To No. 2 Wake Forest

Nov. 10, 2007

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The No. 8 Michigan State field hockey team fell to No. 2 Wake Forest, 3-2, in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. MSU ended its season with a 16-6 record, losing in the first round for the first time in five trips to the NCAA Tournament. Wake Forest has earned nine-straight opening round victories since 1999, and will play the winner of the Michigan/Ohio matchup tomorrow at 1 p.m.

It was an offensive struggle for both teams for the first 25 minutes of the game, until Wake Forest scored the first goal at 25:56. After two Wake Forest penalty corner attempts, midfielder Regina Shannon scored the only goal of the half on a penatly stroke, firing the ball past MSU goalkeeper Elissa Unger on the left side of the net, giving Wake Forest a 1-0 lead.

MSU tied the score in the second half, as Angela Pagura knocked in a rebound from the right side in front of the net at 46:07, her second of the season. The Demon Deacons wasted little time responding, as they scored just over a minute and half later (47:39). Midfielder Emily Cummings scored on a scramble in front of the MSU net to give Wake Forest a 2-1 lead with 22:21 left to play.

With just over five remaining in the game, MSU freshman Jantine Steinmetz scored her 15th goal of the season. Steinmetz took a breakaway down the left side of the field, spun around her defender and backhanded a shot from 20 feet out past Wake Forest goalkeeper Crystal Duffield at 64:56, to tie the game at 2-2.

Wake Forest answered quickly again, netting the game-winner at 66;47. Unger came out to block a shot, and Wake Forest junior Michelle Kasold went around to the right side and scored, as Wake Forest took the final lead of the game, 3-2.

"We started out strong today; it was a great game," said head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof. "What I always tell the girls is to make sure that we are always improving. If you look at our season, I think we've improved every game, and we built on last season. We will be ready to come out and do the same next year."

It was the last game in Green and White for the four Spartan seniors. Becky Manning, Kathryn Elenz-Martin, Amy Schneider, and Charlotte van der Laag all had strong seasons for the Spartans, scoring 20 points or more.

"Getting back to the tournament was the highlight of our season, it took a whole season's worth of work to get here," said Becky Manning. "I'm really happy for the team, and the fact we made it, even though it didn't turn out the way we planned."