Women's Soccer Starts Big Ten Play with Trip to Indiana

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State women's soccer is headed on the road this Sunday, Sept. 19 at 1 p.m. for the first Big Ten match of the season. The Spartans take on Indiana at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana to open league play.

MSU wrapped up the non-conference portion of its season with a historic undefeated record for the first time since 2014 and the fourth time in school history. The 5-0-2 Spartans were one of just two Big Ten teams, along with 4-0-3 Minnesota, to finish the nonconference slate without a loss. Through seven games, the defense allowed just three goals from three different opponents and secured four shutouts, the third-most in the league.

With 15 goals scored in non-conference from 11 different Spartans, the team has already surpassed its goal total of 10 from the spring 2021 season.

LAST TIME OUT
The Spartans returned from back-to-back road matches with a pair of wins last week, shutting out Oakland 2-0 on Thursday before rolling past Dayton, 3-1 on Sunday.

Samantha White scored her first career goal for the Spartans on Thursday night, earning the game-winner against the Golden Grizzlies. Michigan State scored both of its goals in the first half, staying strong on defense in the second frame to keep Oakland scoreless and come away with the 2-0 win. It was the fourth shutout of the season for goalkeeper Lauren Kozal and the Green & White.

On Sunday, the squad came up with a 3-1 victory against a tough Dayton team. Zivana Labovic opened up scoring for the Spartans in the 18^th minute, giving MSU a 1-0 lead heading into the half. In the 63^rd minute, Camryn Evans scored her first goal of the season to pad the lead at 2-0. Closing out scoring for Michigan State was Allyson Childers, who earned her first career goal with a successful penalty kick. Dayton was only allowed one goal, late in the second half off a penalty in the box.
Kozal had a season-high 10 saves against the Flyers, one save short of tying her career-high.

SPARTANS TOP THE BIG TEN
The Spartans made their mark among fellow Big Ten teams throughout the no-nconference portion of the season. As a team, MSU is third in the league in shot attempts with 143 total, averaging 20.43 per game. Second only to Minnesota and Indiana, they have had some of the strongest defense in the Big Ten, allowing just three goals to score from opponents. Staying hot on offense, they hold the fourth-most goals scored of the 14 teams.

Ava Cook has recorded 30 shot attempts over seven games, averaging 4.3 shots per game. Her total is the second-most in the Big Ten and her average puts her at third. She leads the team along with Zivana Labovic in total goals scored with three.

Goalkeeper Lauren Kozal has anchored a Spartan defense that recorded four shutouts in the non-conference season. She holds a 0.40 goals against average and .880 save percentage over seven games, all of which are the third-best in the league behind Minnesota's Megan Plaschko and Indiana's Jamie Gerstenberg.

Head Coach Jeff Hosler's 3-0-2 start makes him just the fourth-ever Big Ten women's soccer coach to go undefeated in the first five matches of their inaugural season.

QUOTING COACH HOSLER
On finishing the nonconference season undefeated: "I think it's incredible, but all the credit goes back to the kids. We've set expectations from day one, and they've worked and strived really hard to meet those. We want to take the experiences we've had during non-conference, build on the confidence we've had and realize we can get results, and I think those experiences will bode well for us moving forward."

Looking ahead to Big Ten play: "It's an incredibly deep Big Ten this season, but we are looking forward to the challenge. There's no question we're going to see some elite competition. But at the same time, we've challenged ourselves [in nonconference], and I think pulling from that confidence and experiences in those games is going to be important. The challenge certainly gets greater with the opponents we have, but everyone is starting out undefeated in conference, and we're going to use this confidence and momentum we have and give our best effort every time out."

SCOUTING THE HOOSIERS
Indiana holds a 6-1-1 record through the start of the season and is undefeated at home with a 5-0 mark. The two teams are evenly matched on the stat sheet, with the Spartans scoring 15 goals on 143 shots while the Hoosiers have had 17 goals scored on 108 attempts. Both teams have allowed less than five goals to score from their opponents. The Indiana defense has recorded 16 saves for a save percentage of .889, while Michigan State has totaled 23 behind Lauren Kozal and a save percentage of .885.

The Hoosiers hold a 19-7-2 advantage over the Spartans all-time, with a 10-3-1 mark on their home field. Michigan State will look to snap a four-match losing streak and return to winning form, having earned their last victory against the Hoosiers in 2015. Indiana is led by head coach Erwin van Bennekom in his third season.

NEXT UP
Michigan State will host back-to-back conference opponents next week. Starting on Thursday, Sept. 23, they welcome Wisconsin for a match under the lights, and return to DeMartin Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 26 against Nebraska.

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Players Mentioned

Ally Childers

Ava Cook

Camryn Evans

Lauren Kozal

Zivana Labovic

Samantha White