No. 24 Michigan State and No. 9 Michigan Set to Clash Sunday

Sunday, October 6

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4 PM ET

Michigan State University

Michigan

Photo by: Rey Del Rio

No. 24 Michigan State and No. 9 Michigan Set to Clash Sunday

10/4/2019 12:16:00 PM | Field Hockey

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EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State field hockey returns to action this Sunday, Oct. 6, when they travel to Ann Arbor to take on in-state rival Michigan at Ocker Field.

The No. 24-ranked Spartans will face No. 9 Michigan at 4 p.m. Action will be streamed live on the Big Ten Network.

The Spartans are off to a 5-5 start to the 2019 season, with winsover St. Francis, Kent State, Ball State, Miami (Ohio) and UC Davis. Four of MSU's five losses have come to ranked opponents (No.12 Louisville, No. 3 UConn, No. 7 Northwestern and No. 8 Iowa. MSU opened B1G play with a home loss to Indiana and two road losses to Northwestern and Iowa. Michigan leads the all-time series, 42-25-7. MSU's last win came on Oct. 24, 2014 (2-1), while the Wolverines picked up a 1-0 win in Ann Arbor on Oct. 12, 2018.

Scouting the Wolverines
The No. 9-ranked Wolverines sit at 6-3 overall and 1-1 in B1G play. Michigan holds ranked wins over No. 3 UConn, No. 10 Wake Forest along with California, Central Michigan, Kent State and Indiana. UM is coming off a 1-0 shootout loss to Northwestern on Sept. 29 in Evanston. Michigan has seen a balanced scoring attack all season with nine different players recording goals. Kayla Reed (5) joins Fay Keijer and Meg Dowthwaite (4) atop the scoring colmn, while Kathryn Peterson and Fernandez Lacort each have four assists. Goalkeeper Anna Spieker has allowed just nine goals in nine games with 18 saves. Spieker is 6-3 in the cage for the Wolverines with two shutouts.

All-Time Series: 42-25-7
Michigan State Streak: Five losses
First Meeting: Nov. 6, 1973
Last Meeting: Oct. 12, 2018
Last MSU Win: Oct. 24, 2014
Last Michigan Win: Oct. 12, 2018
Largest MSU Win: 7-0 (Oct. 23, 1975)
Largest Michigan Win: 7-0 (Oct. 15, 1988)

Last Time Out
The Spartans traveled to No. 7 Northwestern and No. 8 Iowa on Sept. 27/29. MSU hung around with the Wildcats early before falling, 4-1. Junior forward Lia Sinisi recorded her sixth goal of the season for the Spartans. Sophomore goalkeeper Jade Arundell collected a career-high 14 saves in the game. Arundell followed with 12 saves against the Hawkeyes in a 5-0 loss, putting her total for the weekend to 26 and 78 on the season.

Spartans in the Rankings
The Michigan State field hockey team entered the Penn Monto/ NFHCA Coaches Poll rankings for the fourth-straight week on Oct. 1, coming in at No. 24. The ranking is the highest for the Spartans since 2015, when they opened the season at No. 19. MSU ranked No. 25 (Sept. 10) , No. 23 (Sept. 17), No. 24 (Sept. 24) and No. 24 (Oct. 1).

Spartan Leaders
Junior Lia Sinisi leads the Spartans on the offensive side with six goals, while freshman Nienke Bloemsaat has added four goals, two assists and two defensive saves. Sinisi recorded her first career goal in MSU's season opener against St. Francis on Aug. 31. Bloemsaat has started in all 10 games for the Spartans as a defender, recording all four goals on penalty corners. Cara Bonshak leads the Spartans and is third in the Big Ten in assists with six, while senior Kelsey Keener has three assists to her name. Goalkeeper Jade Arundell leads the Big Ten with 78 saves in 10 games. Her 7.8 saves per game ranks seventh in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten.

Redshirt junior Maggie Cole tallied her first career goal in MSU's 7-0 win over St. Francis. Junior Meredith Ross and sophomore Aisha Osinga each have three goals for the Spartans. Osinga's three game-winning goals leads the Big Ten.

Balanced Attack
Six different Spartans have recorded a goal this season. Aisha Osinga, who leads the Big Ten with three-game winning goals, has three goals while Meredith Ross has recorded three goals and leads the team with 19 shots. Isa van der Weij, who led the Spartans in scoring last season as a freshman, has two goals and one assist. Maggie Cole, a redshirt junior from Chelsea, Mich., recorded her first career goal in MSU's 7-0 win over St. Francis. Freshmen Merel Hanssen and Celina Riccardo have seen significant playing time early for the Spartans. Riccardo has started in all 10 games, while Hanssen has played in all 10 and started 4.

Freshman Sensation
Freshman defender Nienke Bloemsaat is off to a blistering start in her freshman campaign. Bloemsaat has started in all 10 games for MSU at the back position. Bloemsaat, from The Netherlands, has been key on the defensive side for the Spartans where she has collected two defensive saves. Offensively, Bloemsaat has compiled four goals on seven shots on goal, all of them from penalty corners.Bloemsaat was key in MSU's 2-1 win over UC Davis, tying the scoring at one on a penalty corner with assists from Keener and Bonshak.

Arundell on Top
Sophomore goalkeeper Jade Arundell leads the Big Ten with 78 saves in 10 games (7.9 spg) in goal for the Spartans. Her 7.9 saves per game rank seventh in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten. Indiana goalkeeper Sachi Ananias is second in total saves with 59 on the season. Arundell, who compiled 122 saves last year in her freshman season, recorded a career-high 14 saves on Sept. 27 at No. 7 Northwestern. Arundell compiled 12 saves on Sept. 29 against No. 8 Iowa. Arundell's .772 save percentage ranks 3rd in the Big Ten and ranks 19th in the NCAA. Arundell's 7.9 saves per game lead the Big Ten and her two shutouts are tied for third.

Arundell named B1G Defensive Player of the Week
Goalkeeper Jade Arundell was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 3. Arundell, from County Kildare, Ireland, helped the Spartans to wins over St. Francis and Kent State on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Arundell played 60 minutes in both games and recorded 10 saves on the weekend. Arundell recorded two shutouts in the victories to move to 2-0 in the net for the Spartans. Arundell becomes the first Spartan to take home Defensive Player of the Week honors since Jenni Smith in 2013. Van der Weij was the last MSU player to earn Big Ten weekly honors, when she was named Freshman of the Week on Aug. 27, 2018.

Spartan Returners
Michigan State returns three of its top four scorers from last year's squad. The Spartans are led by van der Weij, who led MSU in multiple statistical categories a season ago. A native of Bussum, The Netherlands, van der Weij finished the 2018 season with a team-best 11 points on four goals scored.

Junior Meredith Ross (3 goals) and Osinga (2 goals) return at the forward position for MSU and join nine Spartans who made at least one start from last year's team. Arundell, who started all 20 games in the net last season, returns after compiling 122 saves during her freshman campaign.

MSU welcomes six freshmen to the 2019 team: Celina Riccardo (Dowington, Pa.), Bloemsaat (Oosterhout, The Netherlands), Hannah Jarvie (Saline, Mich.), Devin Reilly (Saline, Mich.), Merel Hanssen (Boxmeer, The Netherlands) and Valerie Radvany (Lawrenceville, N.J.).