The Michigan State Women’s Soccer Team has concluded another impressive regular season and now gets ready to play in the Big Ten Tournament. With their 1-0 victory over Northwestern in Evanston on Friday night, the Lady Spartans conclude their season with a 13-3-2 overall record, and a 9-3-0 conference record. Across the 18-game campaign, the team tallied 35 goals while only conceding 15 to their opponents. Offensively, the team was led by Kennedy Bell (8 goals), Kayla Briggs (7), and Emerson Sargeant
(6).
The Spartans’ 9-3-0 B1G record earned them fourth place in the conference, and thus the 4th seed in the tournament. Despite that conference finish, MSU actually is ranked #6 in the polls. No, there are not 4 Big Ten teams in the top 6. The Spartans high ranking comes from a couple of major wins against non-conference opponents early in the year. MSU picked up a road win against North Carolina back in August. The Tar Heels were ranked #6 then but were #2 in the most recent poll. The Spartans also defeated Colorado at home a week later when the Buffaloes were #12, though they are #17 now.
The Big Ten Tournament has contracted this year and will only feature the top 8 teams in the standings, meaning ten teams will not get to compete. This year’s tournament will have the quarter- and semifinal rounds played at Energizer Park in St. Louis, home to St. Louis City SC of the MLS. The finals will be played at the home of the highest seeded team remaining. Michigan State’s quarterfinal game will be against the 5th-seed Washington Huskies. The two teams played each other in last year’s Big Ten Championship Game, a game the Huskies won in penalty kicks. The quarterfinal contest will be on Thursday, November 5, at 5 PM ET and will stream on BTN+.
If MSU gets past Washington, they will play in the semifinals against the winner of #1 Ohio State and #8 Michigan. That game will be on Sunday, November 8, at 1 PM ET and will be on the Big Ten Network.
Let’s go Spartans!
