No. 17 Men's Soccer Heads to Ohio State

Oct. 2, 2014

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The No. 17 Michigan State men's soccer team heads to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State this Saturday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. MSU has a 5-1-2 record and is 1-0-1 in the Big Ten conference after tying Rutgers to close last weekend.

Last Time Out
Michigan State team tied Rutgers on Sunday, Sept. 28, 0-0, in double overtime. Junior goalkeeper Zach Bennett tied the school record for career shutouts, picking up his 23rd and his seventh shutout in eight games. Bennett was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 29th following consecutive shutouts against Bowling Green and Rutgers.

In the Polls
The Spartans is ranked 17th by the NSCAA Coaches Poll this week. MSU is also ranked No. 17 by Top Drawer Soccer and No. 14 by College Soccer News.

Bennett is ranked in the NCAA national statistics. He is second in goals against average (.118) and save percentage (.952). The team's shutout percentage (.88) also ranks second nationally and the team's W-L-T percentage is ranked 17th (.750).

The Spartans are No. 2 in the Big Ten just behind Penn State. MSU tops the conference in number of goals allowed with only one in eight games and in GAA (0.12).

Junior midfielder Jason Stacy is tied for third in the conference for assists (3), and Bennett leads the conference in GAA (0.12), Sv% (0.952) and is tied for first in shutouts (7).

Scouting Ohio State
Ohio State is currently ranked sixth in the Big Ten with a record of 3-3-3, coming off a win at Louisville and is 1-1-0 in the conference. OSU currently has the most saves (47) of anyone in the conference. Under 18th-year head coach John Bluem, senior goalkeeper Alex Ivanov holds down the net for the Buckeyes with a 0.83 GAA and 0.852 Sv%. He owns four shutouts this season. OSU scoring is led by senior midfielder Yianni Saris with three goals and one assist followed by junior defender Liam Doyle with two goals.

Next Up
Following their match with Ohio State, MSU will return to East Lansing to play Akron on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 4 p.m. in DeMartin Stadium.