Second-half Surge Seals Soccer Victory for Spartans

Oct. 11, 2014

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The No. 19 Michigan State men's soccer team won against Wisconsin, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon. The Spartans improve to 7-2-2 on the season and 2-1-1 in the Big Ten with goals from Zach Carroll and Adam Montague.

"It was an exciting Big Ten game," said Michigan State head coach Damon Rensing. "They are very well-coached and are a talented young team. They came in pretty carefree and played sharp. To be honest, they probably deserve the 1-0 lead at the end of the first half.

Wisconsin started early, scoring in just the second minute of the match. Sophomore defender Matej Radonic netted a goal off a header with an assist from Badgers' leading scorer Mark Segbers. This was Radonic's first goal of the season and Segbers' fifth assist.

Despite chances from MSU, the Wisconsin defense held strong to maintain the lead, 1-0, for the rest of the half. The Spartans totaled four shots in the first half and junior goalkeeper Zach Bennett had one save.

"I thought we challenged our guys at halftime and really got a great response," said Rensing. "Our leaders - Fatai (Alashe), Montague, Carroll, (Ryan) Keener, (Jay) Chapman - really showed up in the second half. We responded well. We got the first goal, and I liked the response. We didn't stop; we kept going, got the second and looked for the third.

"We thought we were a little sluggish. We have too many guys with experience in Big Ten games and Division I games, so we just had to challenge them a little bit. You're not going to come out and play perfect for every half. They responded and got the victory. I'm very happy for them."

Senior midfielder Fatai Alashe battled his way through three defenders to get tackled in the box. A subsequent yellow card on Adam Lauko of the Badgers allowed junior defender Carroll to earn his second goal of the season off a penalty kick in the 50th minute, tying up the match at 1-1.

"I think Damon's halftime speech [sparked the second-half]," said Montague, "He really challenged us to come back and take over the game in the second half. I think getting an early goal definitely sparked our second-half comeback."

With assists from midfielders Dewey Lewis and Jay Chapman, Montague picked up is second goal of the season on a toe poke that snuck past Wisconsin goalie Adrian Remeniuk. This was the 20th career goal for the senior captain from Toledo, Ohio.

"I remember getting the ball at the top of the box and a couple guys converging," Montague said. "It's funny because you grow up and coaches tell you never to toe poke the ball, but in that one instant, it was the only thing that was appropriate."

The Spartans closed out the game with several more serious chances from Montague, Chapman, Carroll, Jason Stacy and Michael Marcantognini. An offside call disqualified what would have been an additional goal from Montague. The Spartans closed out the match with 17 shots and seven shots on goal.

"We didn't want to sit back and let them keep attacking us," said Montague. "We saw some opportunities to go forward and catch them. We created a few chances and probably should have scored. In those instances, you want to keep and attacking to kind of kill the game off.

"I think our defensive line as a whole played really well. It's always tough for a guy like Brad Centala to come in halfway through the game and I thought he really stepped up. I thought Michael Marcantognini, the freshman, came in and was able to create some sparks with minutes off the bench. He was dangerous the entire time he was in."

Michigan State returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m. to take on the Western Michigan Broncos at DeMartin Stadium.

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Team Stats

Adam Montague

Zach Carroll

Jay Chapman

Dewey Lewis

Players Mentioned

Fatai Alashe

Zach Bennett

Zach Carroll

Brad Centala

Jay Chapman

Dewey Lewis

Michael Marcantognini

Adam Montague

Jason Stacy