On Oct. 22, Michigan State and women's soccer head coach Jeff Hosler sealed back-to-back Big Ten regular season titles after a convincing 3-0 win in East Lansing against Iowa.
Just one week later, the Spartans fell 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament to the same team they beat just seven days prior. It was a disappointing loss for a team that was looking to get revenge from last year’s Big Ten Tournament championship loss to Penn State.
However, it allowed the team to re-energize and refocus ahead of the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament.
“In some ways, maybe losing that game (to Iowa) refocused our group, made them a little more hungry to get back and give their best effort, which I think they clearly did in the first round,” Hosler said at his press conference on Monday.
Michigan State was on almost two weeks of rest heading into its first round NCAA Tournament game at DeMartin Stadium against Ohio. A revitalized Michigan State team took care of business at home, winning the game 3-0 behind two goals by freshman forward/midfielder Bella Najera.
Hosler called the win probably Michigan State’s “best performance of the season.”
Hosler was pleased with what he saw from his team against the Bobcats, and hopes the Spartans can carry that momentum against Harvard in the next round.
“(I was) really impressed with both sides of the ball," Hosler said. "(I) thought it was a thorough and complete performance. Statistically, you go back, for all the years I’ve been a head coach in college soccer, to out-possess your opponent 72 percent to 28 percent is pretty remarkable. To do it with a crispness that we did, the various combination play that we had, scored three goals in a postseason match and have a shutout can obviously equal a lot of success. (I’m) thrilled with where we are as a team and incredibly excited for this opportunity that we have to play Harvard coming off their Ivy League Tournament championship and solid first-round performance.”
The Spartans now enter the second round of tournament play, which is the round that they were eliminated in last season by TCU. Hosler thinks that some of that postseason experience from last year can help the team this year.
“We’ve been through this,” Hosler said. “Now we have a little bit of seasonal stamina after last year, going on the run that we did and playing into the second round, so I think our team knows (how) to handle that. I think we’re rested and refreshed and ready to go for this. And I think that experience last year of falling short but having an incredible performance gives our team a lot of confidence that we can put ourselves in a position to win on Thursday.”
As mentioned, Harvard stands in Michigan State’s way of advancing further in the tournament. The two teams are set to play on Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN+.
The Crimson are the No. 4 seed and the Spartans are the No. 5 seed. The winner of Thursday’s game will play either No. 1 BYU or No. 8 USC on Saturday.
Hosler said that Harvard is a “really intelligent group” and that the Crimson play at a “very, very high level.” The Crimson are also efficient with their goal-scoring opportunities and are “very effective” attacking the net.
A player to watch on the Harvard team is defender Jade Rose. At the ripe age of 20 years old, Rose has already appeared in 11 games for the Canada Women’s National Team. She started in 10 of those 11 games.
Thursday’s game will be in Provo, Utah, home of the No. 1 seed in the region (BYU), so elevation will play a factor. However, the Spartans have experience in the mountains this season after playing Northern Colorado and Colorado in the non-conference slate.
“We were very intentional with our non-conference schedule this year,” Hosler said. “We spent six days in Colorado. So we’ve had this trip where we’ve been in mountains and we’ve had to deal with elevation and how to manage that. So I think we have a much better handle on that to have us prepared for this trip. And I’m excited for what I hope to be a very good environment.”
Hosler and the Spartans will leave for Utah on Wednesday morning.
