No. 5 MSU Women Back on the Road to Indiana This Week

No. 5/4 Michigan State (10-2-2, 6-2 B1G) at Indiana (4-8-2, 1-6-1 B1G)
Dates/Location	Friday, Oct. 16 \| 7:30 pm Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium \| Bloomington, Ind.
Television	none
Webstream	B1G+
Live Stats	Click Here
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Indiana
Social Media	Facebook X Instagram

What you need to know about Michigan State women's soccer

Particulars
• Michigan State heads back to the state of Indiana for the second straight weekend and will play the Hoosiers on Friday evening. The home team holds a 19-10-3 edge in the all-time series between the teams, but MSU earned a 2-0 victory in the most recent matchup, last year in East Lansing.

• Indiana is coming off a come-from-behind 2-2 draw at USC on Sunday. The Hoosiers are 4-8-2 on the year overall and 1-6-1 in Big Ten play under second-year head coach Josh Rife. Rife was the head coach at Ball State for six seasons before taking the reins in Bloomington.

• MSU split its games last week, defeating Minnesota (4-0) at home on Thursday before a 2-1 setback at No. 25 Purdue. Against the Gophers, the Spartans scored twice in each half and got a five-point effort from Kennedy Bell. Noelle Henning recorded her 13th career shutout and fifth of the season. On Sunday in West Lafayette, the teams both scored in the opening seven minutes, but the difference was a second-half penalty kick. Kayla Briggs had MSU's goal, while Henning made a season-high six saves, five of which came in the first half.

• Michigan State fell to No. 5 in the IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches national poll after the Purdue setback. MSU has been among the top five in that poll in every playing week this season. The Spartans are now No. 4 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll.

• MSU fell one spot to No. 2 in the RPI rankings released on Monday (10/12). The first RPI rankings of 2026 were released on Sept. 21, and the Spartans held the No. 1 spot for three consecutive Mondays. Through 14 games, MSU has played five opponents in the current RPI top 25, three more who appear between 26-35, and five who fall between 51-106. MSU's Oct. 22 opponent Penn State ranks No. 22 this week. The full RPI ranking can be found at bit.ly/WSOCRPI

• The Spartans' strength of schedule currently ranks as the most difficult in the nation to this point of the season (via NCAA metrics) as its opponents are a combined 96-31-48 (.686). The Big Ten has four teams in the top 10, while the ACC has three. MSU has earned wins over four teams ranked in the top 20 of the IWSOC poll this season, as well as a win and a tie over teams receiving votes in the national poll at the time of the game.

• Five teams have between 18-21 points at the top of the Big Ten standings - both Ohio State and UCLA are 7-1 (21 points), with Purdue and Washington both standing with 6-1-1 marks in conference play (19 points). MSU is 6-2, four points ahead of sixth-place Penn State (14 points, 4-2-2).

• MSU's 30 total goals rank second in the Big Ten (36th, NCAA), as does its scoring offense of 2.14 goals per game (15th, NCAA). The Spartans also rank second in the Big Ten in both assists (fifth nationally) and total points (99, 16th).

• Jeff Hosler has coached his teams to a 41-9-10 record in Big Ten games since coming to MSU. In his first season (2021), the Spartans went 5-4-1 in conference play and are 36-5-9 in the four-plus years since. He is 80-22-22 at MSU overall, and 313-898-40 in his head coaching career (21st season).

• Kayla Briggs has posted 20 points on six goals and a career-best eight assists. Her eight assists is tied for 15th in a single season at MSU, while her 5th career helpers as a Spartan is 20th in the MSU annals in that category. She has a 14-15-43 line at MSU, and 19-22-60 in her four-year collegiate career.

• Kennedy Bell paced the Spartans with a pair of goals and an assist in MSU's last home win over Minnesota. Through 14 games, Bell ranks third in the Big Ten in goals (8) and points (22) and is fourth in assists (6). She now has 51 points (19g, 13a) in her 39 career games as a Spartan. She is the 24th player in program history to achieve 50 points, ranking 21st in career points and 19th in career goals. Combined with two seasons at Maryland, (75 games), she owns a 22-16-60 collegiate scoring line.

• Noelle Henning returned to East Lansing on Sept. 22 after a month as the starting keeper for Canada at the FIFA U20 World Cup. She posted clean sheets in each of her first three games back in the lineup: she recorded two saves vs. Washington (9/27) and three at Illinois (10/4) and vs. Minnesota (10/8)) but had her personal shutout streak of 295:31 snapped with Purdue's first goal at 7:52 last Sunday. She made a season-best six stops against the Boilers.

• Overall on the season, Henning has produced five shutouts in seven games. She boasts a 0.571 GAA (second, B1G/ 23rd NCAA) and .852 save percentage (third B1G/30th NCAA). Her five shutouts is eighth among B1G keepers.

• Emerson Sargeant opened the scoring vs. Minnesota with a header that put MSU on the board in the seventh minute. She now boasts career totals of 17 goals and 20 assists (54 points); she is tied for 17th in points in the Spartan record book and ninth all-time in assists. Her 17 goals sit one outside MSU's all-time top 20, and her eight career game-winners ranks in a tie for 10th. She is the 23rd player in program history to achieve 50 points.

• Bella Najera is the most prolific scorer in the Jeff Hosler era and will eventually leave MSU as one of its top offensive performers in program history. She owns 27 career goals, (10th all time) and her 10th career game-winners is tied for fifth place. The senior ranks ninth in career points (73) and is 12th in career assists (19).

• Julia Belli has started all 14 games and logged 1048 minutes at centerback this season after missing all of 2025. One of the most impressive Spartan comeback stories, Belli has averaged 78 minutes over MSU's last eight games; she ranks fourth among Spartans in minutes played, which includes a full 90 vs. North Carolina, UCLA and at Purdue. Belli started all 22 games and was a Big Ten All-Freshman team selection in 2024.

• Kaleigh McPherson is in her second season as a full-time starter for MSU and is often overlooked as kudos are handed out, but she has also recorded big assists in each of MSU's last two games. The holding mid was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team in 2024 and had a goal and two assists in 2025. She has started 50 of her 61 career games.

• Freshmen Lacey Kindel and Samantha Powell have been named to Canada's 21-player roster for the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup in Morocco. The duo departed on Oct. 5 for the pre-tournament camp, and the squad's first game will be Oct. 18. The pair are among the three US collegiate players on the roster. The U17 FIFA World Cup is held annually, and Kindel will be on the team for the second consecutive season. The tournament runs Oct. 17-Nov. 6.

• Grace Jackson went a career-best 49 minutes at Purdue last Sunday, her sixth game of the season. She recorded her first goal of 2026 vs. Washington (9/27). She missed most of the 2025 season with injury and played in 15 games as a freshman in 2024.

• Freshman LJ Pearcy has seen more time on the field in recent games and averaged 30 minutes over the Minnesota and Purdue games last week. She went a season-high 34 minutes vs. the Gophers and recorded her first career point in MSU's victory over Washington, on Grace Jackson's goal in the 73'.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kennedy Bell

Julia Belli

Kayla Briggs

Noelle Henning

Grace Jackson

Lacey Kindel

Kaleigh McPherson

Bella Najera

LJ Pearcy

Samantha Powell

Emerson Sargeant

Michigan State University Athletics