Women's Soccer Hosts Eastern Michigan, Travels to BU in Week Two

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's soccer continues its home stretch on Thursday, Aug. 29 as the team plays host to Eastern Michigan. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m., under the lights at DeMartin Stadium. MSU will then take to the road for the first time this season on Sunday, Sept. 1, with a trip to Boston University.

LAST TIME OUT
The Spartans began the 2019 season with a 2-0-0 record and remain unbeaten at DeMartin.

Sophomore forward Gia Wahlberg shined in the team's 5-1 victory over Marshall on Sunday, Aug. 25 at DeMartin Stadium, scoring four first-half goals. Sophomore forward Camryn Evans recorded two assists.

Redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Lauren Kozal earned her first two career wins in the opening week of the regular season. Kozal had three saves in each game, while playing all 180 minutes.

WAHLBERG'S RECORD-SETTING PERFORMANCE
Wahlberg was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, as announced by the conference on Tuesday. The South Elgin, Illinois native achieved the rare haul on a record-setting day, scoring four goals in the first-half against Marshall.

Her four goals set a record for the most goals in a first-half at DeMartin Stadium, while the five total Spartan goals ties a record for most goals in a game and the most goals scored at DeMartin Stadium.

The forward also tied the Big Ten record for most goals in a game, which only 12 other Big Ten players have achieved, including former Spartan Lauren Hill.

Wahlberg is the first Spartan to record four goals in a game since Hill scored four goals in the first-half versus Western Michigan during the 2006 season, a 4-2 Spartan victory.

This is the 15th time a Michigan State women's soccer player has won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week since the conference split offensive and defensive weekly honors in 2001. The last Spartan to earn Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week was Sadie Misiewicz on Aug. 21, 2018.

MICHIGAN STATE NOTES
The Spartans have had five different goal-scorers through the first two matches, with Danielle Stephan, Bella Jodzis, Michaela Kovacs, Sydney Kloosterman and Gia Wahlberg all tallying goals on the score-sheet. Last season, the team only had six goal-scorers through 18 games.

Jodzis and Stephan are the two Spartans who have earned points in each of the first two games. Jodzis had a goal in the home-opener and an assist in game two. Stephan, who led the team with four assists last year, already has two assists this season, recording one in each game so far and a goal in game one.

The eight goals scored in the opening weekend against Utah Valley (3-1) and Marshall (5-1) are the most goals the Spartans have scored in the opening weekend of the season since 2008; MSU debuted with a 5-1 win at Oakland and a 3-0 win at DePaul to start a season that ended with a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

MSU leads opponents in shots on goal (17-7), assists (9-1) and total goals (8-2) through two games.

FRESHMAN TO ATTEND U.S. U-20 WNT TRAINING CAMP
The Spartans will be without freshman defender Bria Schrotenboer in the next two matches as she was selected to the U.S. Under-20 National Team training camp roster. The Holland, Michigan, native, will train from Aug. 24-Sept. 1 in Chula Vista, California.

Schrotenboer was one of two Spartans to start in the season-opener vs. Utah Valley and played all 90 minutes on the backline.

PRESEASON HONORS
Three players were named to the Big Ten Women's Soccer Preseason Honors list. Sophomore forward Camryn Evans, senior defender Michaela Kovacs and freshman defender Bria Schrotenboer represent the Spartans in the preseason honors list.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
The Spartans lead the series history with the Eagles, 12-1-3, including an 8-1-0 mark at DeMartin Stadium. Michigan State remains unbeaten in the last 12 meetings between the two programs and have come out victorious in the last four matches. Thursday's matchup will be the first meeting since the 2014 season, with MSU defeating Eastern Michigan, 3-0, at home.

Eastern Michigan begins their season with a 1-0-1 record and are coming off a 1-0 victory over Detroit Mercy last weekend.

Freshman Amanda Cripps scored in her collegiate debut at Oakland, which resulted in a 2-2 tie. She has four shots on goal in two games. Goalkeeper Mabel Dunn helped the Eagles stay unbeaten, recording eight saves in two games.

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
This will be only the second meeting between Michigan State and Boston University, with the first in the books last season. In the first meeting, the Spartans shutout the Terriers, 2-0, on Aug. 19 at DeMartin Stadium. Returning players midfielder Sadie Misiewicz and forward Alexandra Thomas recorded the two first-half goals for MSU.

BU is searching for their first win and first goal this season, as they begin the season at 0-1-1. The team tied Denver in the home-opener, before falling to Colorado, 2-0. The team plays at Boston College on Aug. 29 before hosting Michigan State on Sunday.

Junior Anna Heilferty was named to the 2019 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch list after leading the Terriers in goals (6), assists (6) and points (18) last season. She garnered All-Patriot League first Team and Patriot League Tournament MVP accolades as a sophomore.

SAXTON SAYS
"(There has been) continued improvement in all areas; There was a huge improvement from Utah Valley to Marshall, in terms of how we were defending and some of the passing decisions so I thought we took a nice step there. There are still some things we need to clean up ... More consistency across the 90 minutes in each of the areas of the game. The mantra is we need to defend our home turf. We want to end this segment of our schedule 3-0 at home."

Women's Soccer Hosts Eastern Michigan, Travels to BU in Week Two

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Camryn Evans

Bella Jodzis

Sydney Kloosterman

Michaela Kovacs

Lauren Kozal

Sadie Misiewicz

Bria Schrotenboer

Danielle Stephan

Alexandra Thomas

Gia Wahlberg