Spartan Men's Soccer Travels to Wisconsin Saturday Night
10/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State men's soccer hits the road for a Saturday night battle with Wisconsin on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. (ET). The game will be broadcast on BTN Plus.
GETTING TO KNOW THE SPARTANS
•The Spartans are currently 5-4-1, having their two-game winning streak snapped last week by Ohio State. MSU is now 1-1-1 in B1G action, standing behind Michigan, Penn State, Northwestern and Maryland in the standings.Wisconsin is 2-8-1 overall this season and is 1-1-1 in Big Ten play after drawing Michigan, 3-3, in its most recent conference match. Last season, the Badgers finished last in the Big Ten with a 0-7-1 conference record (3-12-3 overall). In a non-conference match on Wednesday, the Badgers fell to Marquette, 1-0.
• The Spartans are 12-22-4 all-time against the Badgers, but came out victorious in the most recent meeting, 2-1, last season. A pair of second half goals powered the Spartans to a win at home over their border rivals back on Oct. 11, 2014.
• A total of six freshmen, Ryan Sierakowski, Connor Corrigan, DeJuan Jones, Robbie Cort and Hunter Barone have made their Spartan debuts so far this season. Sierakowski has started all 10 matches, while Corrigan started in eight matches. Jones has appeared in all 10 games, starting the last three games. Sierakowski leads the team with three goals, two assists for eight points, while Jones has one goal.
• The Spartan defense has been stingy this season allowing only nine goals in nine games for a goals against average of 0.89.
• Senior goalkeeper Zach Bennett is first in the nation among active Division I goalkeepers in career complete shutouts with 32 UC Irvine's Jack Binks was second with 29, while Eric Klenofsky Monmouth has 27. He is also fifth in saves with 274, behind Eduardo Cortes of IUPUI (325).
• Nine different Spartans have earned a point so far this season. Senior Jason Stacy, junior Jerome Cristobal, senior Zach Carroll, sophomore Ken Krolicki, senior Blake Skameira, freshman Ryan Sierakowski and freshman DeJuan Jones have all found the back of the net.
SECOND-HALF STRONG
• Michigan State has been a second-half team all season. The Spartans have out-score their opponents 6-2 in the second half. MSU has also has taken 72 shots in the second half, compared to 36 by the Spartan opponents. The active second-half has led to the opposition making 23 saves in the last 45 minutes.
SCOUTING THE BADGERS
• The Wisconsin offensive attack is led by a trio of sophomores who have combined to make up more than half of the team's points. Christopher Mueller leads the Badgers with three goals and two assists, while Mark Segbers (2g, 3a) and Tom Barlow (2g, 2a) are not far behind. Five different players have taken 10 or more shots, and 11 different players have registered a point through 11 games.• A total of three different keepers have played minutes for the Badgers this season. Sophomore Adrian Remeniuk has seen the bulk of the action, starting in seven matches. Wisconsin's trio of goalkeepers have made the second most saves in the Big Ten with 46 for an average of 4.18 per game.• Senior Chris Froschauer has played in all nine games this, allowing 11 goals. He tied for fifth in the Big Ten in shutouts with three.
JONESING FOR A GOAL
• Freshman DeJuan Jones has played in all 10 of the Spartans games this season. The East Lansing native has started the last two games, which were MSU wins at Rutgers and Bowling Green. Jones finally found the back of the net in MSU's 1-0 win against Bowling Green scoring the only goal of the match for his first game-winning goal.
UP NEXT
• The Spartans will host a pair of games next week. Michigan State will host in-state rival Western Michigan on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 4 p.m. MSU will conclude the week with a Big Ten matchup against Penn State on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. The game with the Nittany Lions will be MSU's third game on BTN at home this season.
AGAINST THE BEST
• MSU is now 0-4 against top-ranked teams since 2009 after losing a hard-fought battle to Creighton, 1-0, on Sept. 13. Prior to last week, the last time that the Spartans faced the No. 1 team in the country was Nov. 5, 2013 when MSU fell to top-ranked Notre Dame, 2-0, at DeMartin Stadium. On Sept. 3, 2012, top-ranked UConn beat Michigan State 1-0 in East Lansing. On Nov. 4, 2009, MSU also took on No. 1 Akron on the road. The Zips stopped the Spartans, 2-1, on a late penalty kick
.LOOKING AROUND THE B1G
• Ryan Sierakowski is currently tied for first in conference games in points with Michigan's Francis Atuahene with seven. They both have three goals and an assist He is also tied for first in goals with three. Sophomore Ken Krolicki is tied for first in game-winning goals in league game with one. Zach Bennett has the lowest goals against average in league contests with a 0.45 GAA, allowing one goal.
SPARTANS IN THE PROS LOOKING AT THE ZACHS • Senior defender Zach Carroll scored the game-winning goal for MSU against West Virginia on Sept. 7. He has two of the four game-winning goals this season for MSU. It was his seventh career goal and third career game-winner in a Spartan uniform. Carroll, a preseason Big Ten Player to Watch nominee, was also part of a strong back line that has four shutouts this season.• Senior goalkeeper Zach Bennett moved up to third all-time in career saves at MSU with four in a win against Rutgers on Sept. 25. He is now 13 saves away from T.J. Lieckfelt (1997-00) who had 287 during his Spartan career. Reid Friedrichs (1993-96), a teammate of head coach Damon Rensing, is the all-time save leader with 363.• With a win against Niagara on Sept. 4, senior goalkeeper Zach Bennett took over the Michigan State record for career wins. In his four seasons in net for the Spartans, he has 40 wins, passing Reid Friedrichs, who had 36, for the school record.
RENSING SAYS EARLY HONORS HEAD COACH Damon Rensing FOLLOWING THE SPARTANS
• There are lots of great ways to follow the soccer program - as well as all 25 of MSU's varsity sports - other than gameday. Videos, previews, and game recaps can be found at www.MSUSpartans.com, while coverage of the team on twitter can be found at @MSUMSoccer and @MSU_Athletics. On facebook, "like" us at www.facebook.com/MSUmsoccer.
• "We are a little over half-way through the season. So, we are going to give the guys two days off since we don't have a mid-week game. The one thing about this team is that they work hard. They want to do it, sometimes knowing how to do it is a different thing," MSU head coach Damon Rensing said.
• Three Spartan seniors were named Big Ten preseason Players to watch. Forward Jason Stacy, defender Zach Carroll and goalkeeper Zach Bennett were honored by the conference. Stacy is the top returning scorer for the Spartans with four goals and seven assists for 15 points. Carroll was part of the tough MSU defense that allowed only 19 goals last season, while Bennett set the MSU record for single-season shutouts with 12 in 2014.
• Seniors Zach Bennett, Zach Carroll and Jason Stacy were both named to of the top 20 players in the Big Ten by www.topdrawersoccer.com. Bennett was picked sixth, while Carroll was selected seventh. Stacy was selected No. 19. The top player in the conference was Indiana's Tanner Thompson.
• Michigan State men's soccer was picked fourth in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll. The Spartans ended the 2014 campaign with a 12-5-6 overall record and 4-2-2 mark in Big Ten play. Defending Big Ten champion Maryland was picked first, concluding the 2014 campaign with a 13-6-3 record (5-2-1 conference record), and claiming the Big Ten Tournament title. Indiana checked in at No. 2 in the preseason poll, followed by Penn State at No. 3. The Spartans were No. 4, while Ohio State came in at No. 5. Northwestern was picked No. 6 followed by Michigan (No. 7), Rutgers (No. 8) and Wisconsin (No. 9).
• In seven years, head coach Damon Rensing has compiled an impressive 74-48-28 record (.587). Rensing was named MSU's head coach designate on Aug. 14, 2008 after Baum decided to make 2008 his final season as head coach.In his first six years as head coach, the Spartans have made five NCAA tournament campaigns, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2013 and 2014. The Spartans ended the 2014 season with a 12-5-6 record overall and were 4-2-2 in Big Ten action.This season, Rensing added Cale Wassermann to his staff. Wassermann comes to East Lansing after four successful seasons as the head coach at Saginaw Valley State University. In 2014, Saginaw Valley State reached the Division II NCAA Tournament Round of 16, ending the season with a 14-5-2 record. Assistant coach and former Spartan Ben Pirmann returns the MSU bench for fifth season. Paul Gilbert is also back for his second season as a volunteer assistant coach, working with the goalkeepers.
