Women's Soccer Hosts Rutgers on Senior Night

Thursday, October 18

East Lansing, Mich.

7:00 PM

Michigan State University

#23 Rutgers

10/17/2018 4:06:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Game Notes (PDF)

The Spartans will honor three seniors Thursday at DeMartin Stadium.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan State women's soccer team hosts Rutgers in the final home game of the regular season Thursday night at DeMartin Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on BTN Plus.

KICKOFF
The Michigan State women's soccer team heads into the final week of the regular-season with a home and away split week. The Spartans host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Thursday for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Senior Day, followed by a 2 p.m. start Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor when MSU faces Michigan. Both games will be streamed on BTN Plus.

SENIOR NIGHT
The Spartans celebrate three seniors in their final home game Thursday. Brenna Cockerill, Sabrina Marx, and Lexy Warner will be honored before kickoff at DeMartin Stadium.

COUNTING CAMS
Camryn Evans, a true freshman from Fenton, Mich., is making the most of her first season as a Spartan. The forward is second in the Big Ten in goals per game at 0.50, and is fourth in the conference with seven goals scored.

MICHIGAN STATE NOTES
Goalkeeper Reilley Ott sits 48th nationally (out of 141) and fourth in the Big Ten Conference in shutouts with six clean sheets. Ott ranks eighth in the conference and 44th nationally in goalkeeper minutes played with 1,421 spent on the field. The Spartans rank third in the conference in save percentage (0.826), and sixth in shutout percentage (0.400). Offensively, MSU is third in the Big Ten in shot accuracy at 0.500.

SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers had a nine-game unbeaten streak snapped last time out in a 1-0 loss to Penn State. RU sits in a tie for second place in the conference with Wisconsin, just three points behind leader Penn State. Amirah Ali leads the conference in goals with 10, and also leads the team with 23 points while tallying three assists. Nicole Whitley is second on the team in points with 11, having assisted on seven goals while scoring two of her own. Ali, Madison Pogarch and Meagan McClelland swepth B1G Player of the Week honors on Oct. 9.

SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Michigan sits at 7-8-1 overall on the season, and 3-5-1 in conference play heading into Thursday's game with Maryland. The Wolverines tied then-conference-leader Nebraska 1-1, and fell 1-0 to Iowa on the road last week. Nicki Hernandez leads the team in both goals and assists with seven goals scored, to go along with six helpers. Reilly Martin and Sarah Stratigakis have both scored six goals for UM.

SAXTON SAYS
We've been a pretty good team defensively this year, but will definitely have to be aware of Amirah Ali. It will be a challenge for us to neutralize the Rutgers attack with that type of personality up front for them. We take that type of talent very seriously. Our attention to detail on restarts has continued to improve as the season has gone on. I think our commitment to goal has improved as well, we just haven't been able to get the ball across the line. I think that's the missing link. Scoring first gives you a big advantage in this game, and with a greater commitment in terms of numbers in the box, we've given ourselves a chance to score first. We've missed those opportunities, and then made mistakes on top of that at times. We've been right there with chances and need to convert them.