Women’s Soccer Opens Big Ten Play at Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Michigan State women's soccer embarks on its 29th season of Big Ten Conference competition on Sunday, Sept. 18, as the Spartans hit the road to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini in a 2 p.m. (ET) kick at Demirjian Park.

HEAD COACH JEFF HOSLER SAID…
"Illinois is a team that has put up strong results against very good opponents," Hosler said. "They always play hard, they're well organized and they know how to execute a game plan to perform well in the big moments. We have to be prepared to play the same as we did against Colorado last weekend. There is a lot of parity in the Big Ten from top to bottom, and if you don't bring your best intensity and your best execution to every game, it's going to be really hard to get results in this league. Our group has to be ultra-focused, and I think this team is ready to build off the success we saw last week."

KICKIN' IT
The Green & White return to work following the first ranked victory of the Hosler era, as the Spartans took down then-No. 19 Colorado by a 4-2 score on Sept. 11. The victory was the first ranked win by a Michigan State team since Oct. 22, 2016, when the Spartans shocked then-No. 16 Penn State in a Senior Day contest on Old College Field. Senior forward Camryn Evans led the way with a trio of scores in the game, with freshman midfielder Courtney Koehler notching assists on two of Evans' goals. Both Evans and Koehler took home Big Ten Weekly Honors as announced on Sept. 13, with Evans garnering the first Co-Offensive Player of the Week accolade of her career, while Koehler won Freshman of the Week for the second time this year.

HATS OFF
In the upset win over Colorado, Evans' three-goal outburst marked the first hat trick of her collegiate career. The Fenton, Michigan, native published two scores in the run of play and one more on a second-half penalty kick. Evans' offensive output was the first hat trick by a Michigan State player since Gia Wahlberg poured in four scores in a 5-1 demolition of the Marshall Thundering Herd on Aug. 25, 2019. Evans recorded only the fifth hat trick on Old College Field since the Spartans began playing there in 1986, joining Wahlberg, Hannah Jones and newly-inducted MSU Athletics Hall-of-Famer Laura (Heyboer) Heethuis as the only Spartans to accomplish that feat.

INTRODUCING THE ILLINI
Veteran head coach Janet Rayfield leads the Illini into league play boasting a 5-2-1 overall record bolstered by a thrilling 1-0 victory over then-No. 17 Butler. Illinois was tabbed as the last-place team in the preseason Big Ten coaches poll coming off a 5-11-1 season a year ago that included a 1-8-1 ledger in conference play. Senior midfielder Kendra Pasquale leads the team with six total points amassed on a trio of goals, including game-winners against both Toledo and Missouri. Junior goalkeeper Julia Cili watches over the Illinois backfield and has recorded a whopping 37 saves through this point in the season, needing only nine more to match her 2021 total.

STORY OF THE SERIES: ILLINOIS
Michigan State and Illinois prepare for the 27th all-time meeting between the two programs with Illinois boasting a 21-3-2 edge over MSU since the first contest in the 1997 campaign. The Illini own a 13-1-1 lead over MSU in games played in Champaign, with Michigan State's only victory coming by way of a 2-1 overtime result in the series opener. MSU's most recent victory over Illinois came in a steady 2-0 result on Sept. 20, 2002. The Spartans fell by a narrow 2-1 margin in the last meeting of the series on March 28, 2021, in East Lansing. Then-freshman Zivana Labovic scored her third goal of the season, but the Illini booked the eventual game-winner in the 84th minute.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Sunday afternoon's Big Ten opener will be streamed live to a worldwide audience via B1G+, with Alec Gilmore and Darrin Brown calling the action. Authenticated subscribers can access the live simulcast of each game via the B1G+ app on their computers, mobile phones, tablets, smart TVs and other connected devices. Live stats provided by the University of Illinois are available here.

FOLLOW THE SPARTANS
Visit MSUSpartans.com for more information on Michigan State women's soccer. Fans can keep up to date with the Spartan women's soccer team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by following @MSU_WSoccer.

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Players Mentioned

Camryn Evans

Courtney Koehler

Zivana Labovic

Gia Wahlberg