No. 12 Michigan State Falls to Iowa in B1G Quarterfinals

EAST LANSING, Mich. - A pair of early second-half goals from Iowa proved to be too much to overcome for Michigan State women's soccer, as the top-seeded Spartans fell to the eighth-seeded Hawkeyes, 2-1, in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals Sunday afternoon at DeMartin Stadium.

MSU drops to 12-4-3 with the result, while Iowa moves to 10-4-4.

"Their (Iowa) intensity was really hard for us to match. From the opening whistle, they were the more physical and aggressive team," said head coach Jeff Hosler. "They did such a great job getting to first balls and getting into a good position to collect second balls. They won way more tackles than we did and those are the little things that don't show up in the stat sheet. Their effort was a little bit greater than ours today and I think their mentality coming out of halftime to take the game to us was better than ours."

In a physical game from start to finish, the Hawkeyes held a narrow 11-9 advantage in the shot count while putting eight of their shots on goal. MSU led the corner kick battle, 5-3.

In similar fashion to much of the game, the opening 10 minutes proved to be a defensive battle. The Hawkeyes got their first offensive opportunity with an on-target shot from Kelli McGroarty in the 10th minute, but the shot was corralled by MSU goalkeeper Kaitlyn Parks to keep the game scoreless.

The Spartans earned a pair of corner kicks in the following two minutes but were unable to generate any scoring chances. Another 10 minutes went by without a shot from either team before MSU was awarded another corner kick in the 19th minute, but the Hawkeye defense once again staved off any MSU opportunities.

After a flurry of fouls and a Hawkeye yellow card in the following 10 minutes, Parks made another save on a second Iowa shot as the game remained level at zero. The Spartans then began to find their offensive footing, with Gabby Mueller recording the first MSU shot of the game in the 35th minute as the attacking pressure continued.

The Spartans finally broke the ice in the 42nd minute when sophomore Emerson Sargeant passed the ball into the box to Raegan Cox, who sent a cross in front of the goal that was collected by Bella Najera. Najera then passed to a perfectly placed Sargeant on the left side of the goal, who shot past the Iowa goalkeeper for the 1-0 MSU lead.

The Hawkeyes were unable to respond with any attacking opportunities of their own in the final minutes of the half as the Spartans maintained their 1-0 lead heading into the break.

Iowa's offense roared to life out of the locker room, forcing another save by Parks in the opening minutes of the half with a second on-target shot from McGroarty. Just over a minute later, a high-flying pass from Iowa's Samantha Cary was headed into the goal by McGroarty to equalize in the 48th minute.

A Spartan corner kick following the Hawkeye goal provided Najera with a pair of scoring opportunities that were blocked before Iowa fought back with a pair of shots of their own on the counterattack. In the 55th minute, the Hawkeyes' Sofia Bush gave Iowa the lead with a goal from Cary's corner kick.

Sargeant looked to equalize minutes later, but her shot was saved by the Iowa goalkeeper. The Hawkeyes attempted to double their lead with three-straight shots in the 70th minute, but Parks saved all three as MSU continued to search for the equalizer.

MSU held most of the possession for the remaining 20 minutes of the game. Justina Gaynor had a pair of opportunities to equalize in the 78th and 84th minutes, but both shots went just wide. After a yellow card and two fouls in the final two minutes, a chance for Zivana Labovic was blocked in the 90th minute before another shot from Gaynor went wide in another pair of opportunities for the Spartans. Unable to equalize, MSU dropped just their fourth match of the season and the Hawkeyes held on to secure the 2-1 win and a spot in Thursday's tournament semifinals.

Iowa goalkeeper Macy Enneking made one save in the win, while Parks was credited with the loss, making six saves.

"The silver lining to this is we get two weeks to prepare," concluded Hosler. "We have a whole week to truly focus on ourselves and get better in some areas where we need to improve. Then, we will find out our opponent next Monday. Then we will have a few more days to prepare for that opponent more specifically. It is an opportunity at a different time of year to turn inward and spend the time necessary to make some improvements."

The Spartans await seeding information for the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament, which is set to begin at campus sites later this month. The NCAA Tournament selection show is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 6 at 4 p.m.

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Team Stats

Emerson Sargeant

Bella Najera

Justina Gaynor

Gabby Mueller

Players Mentioned

Raegan Cox

Justina Gaynor

Zivana Labovic

Gabby Mueller

Bella Najera

Kaitlyn Parks

Emerson Sargeant

Players Mentioned

Raegan Cox

Justina Gaynor

Zivana Labovic

Gabby Mueller

Bella Najera

Kaitlyn Parks

Emerson Sargeant