Spartans Travel to Face Iowa, Nebraska This Weekend

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan State women's soccer team heads west this weekend to take on Iowa and Nebraska in the final two-game conference road trip of the regular season.

KICKOFF
The Spartans take on the Iowa Hawkeyes Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff, followed by a 1 p.m. start Sunday afternoon in Lincoln when MSU faces Nebraska. Both games will be streamed on BTN Plus.

MICHIGAN STATE NOTES
Goalkeeper Reilley Ott sits 32nd nationally (out of 141) and second in the Big Ten Conference in shutouts with six clean sheets. Ott ranks fifth in the conference and 23rd nationally in goalkeeper minutes played with 1,331 spent on the field. Camryn Evans and junior Sadie Misiewicz are tied for eighth in the conference with two game-winning goals apiece. The Spartans rank third in the conference in save percentage (0.828), and third in shutout percentage (0.429). Offensively, MSU is fifth in the Big Ten in shot accuracy at 0.500.

DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
The Spartan back line has been much improved in 2018, aided by the return of Michaela Kovacs. MSU gave up 34 goals through the first 14 games in 2017, compared to just 15 goals in 14 games this season. The defense, led by Kovacs, Madsion VanDyke, Samantha White, and Athena Biondi has allowed 11 goals through seven B1G games in 2018, compared to 22 through the first seven games a year ago.

SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES
Iowa has won two of their last four Big Ten Conference games, including a win over then-first-place Nebraska, last weekend after playing the first three without a victory. The Hawkeyes sit at 6-6-2 overall and 2-4-1 in B1G play. Natalie Winters leads UI with five goals, and has recorded one assist to lead the team with 11 points. Kaleigh Haus has tallied three goals to go along with one assist, and is second on the team with seven points.

SCOUTING THE CORNHUSKERS
NU sits in fourth place heading into the weekend after a 2-1 loss at home to Iowa on Friday, but are just three points away from a first place tie at (8-4-3, 4-1-2 B1G). Faith Carter leads the team with eight goals scored, and has recorded an assist to tally 17 points. Savannah Uveges is the Huskers' leader in points with 18, scoring seven goals to go along with four assists. Aubrei Corder has started all 15 games in goal and holds a 1.42 goals against average with a .639 save percentage.

SAXTON SAYS
We had a great practice on Wednesday, and have continued with attacking themes this week. I thought we played a really good soccer game against Penn State, but didn't bounce back real well against Ohio State. We've got to score to win. I want to see the team break through and get rewarded because the effort has been outstanding. We're going to see some pressure against Iowa, similar to what we saw early from Portland and Washington. If we can break the pressure I think we can get after them a little bit. We have a tough itinerary travel wise heading to Nebraska. We'll have to be mindful in recovery and use our bench this weekend, but we're looking forward to the challenge.

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Players Mentioned

Athena Biondi

Camryn Evans

Michaela Kovacs

Sadie Misiewicz

Reilley Ott

Samantha White