How far can the Spartans go this postseason?
It has been an up-then-down season for Michigan State’s women’s soccer team. After a blistering start that saw them climb as high as No. 1 in the nation, the team faltered a bit down the stretch with one loss and three ties in their final eight games. The sudden (relative) cold streak resulted in the Lady Spartans dropping to a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten, and then that was followed up with them losing their opening match in the conference tournament, a 2-1 overtime defeat to Rutgers in the quarterfinal round.
Regular season play is now in the rearview mirror, however, and the MSU women’s soccer team has their sights set on the NCAA Tournament now. The selection show was this past Monday, and the Spartans were given a 5-seed in the 64-team field. In the NCAA soccer tournament, the first four rounds are all played on the home field of the higher seeded team.
For MSU, this means a home game in the opening round. That game will occur this Saturday, November 16, at noon versus Western Michigan, the 12-seed.
If MSU can hold home field advantage to advance to round two, they would then take on the winner of #4 Texas and #13 Boston University. If it is Texas, the game would be in Austin, but if it is BU, then there would be a second tournament game at DeMartin Stadium. That game will occur on Friday, November 22.
If MSU can advance to the round of 16, which will be on November 24, then their possible opponents are Duke, Texas Tech, Howard, or LSU. Duke, the 1-seed in the region, would host a potential game vs. MSU. If MSU plays any of these other teams in this round, they would be the host.
If the Green & White are still going and make it to the quarterfinals, the only two teams they could face that would get to host MSU are 2-seed UCLA or 3-seed Iowa. Any of the other six teams in that half of the region would all have to go to East Lansing for a game to make the semifinals. The highest seeded teams who could come to E.L. in this round are #6 Georgetown and #7 Virginia Tech. This round will be played on either November 29 or 30.
The Women’s Division One Soccer Semifinals and National Championship, known as the College Cup, will be on December 6 and December 9 in Cary, North Carolina.
Again, at one point this season, this team was ranked first in the nation, so the notion of them going on a run in this tournament certainly is not the most far-fetched idea. But for it to happen, they need to find that early season mojo again, keep the backline tight, and start creating more scoring opportunities (and finishing them of course). In the final eight games of the regular season plus the quarterfinal game in the Big Ten tourney, the Spartans have only exceeded one goal scored in three games; in six of those games, they have scored one or zero goals.
Meg Hughes, Bella Najera, and Emily Mathews led this squad in goals this season, and they will be relied upon to light it up for MSU so the team can show that early season ranking was not a fluke.
So here we go, TOC Nation. Be in front of your televisions this Saturday at noon (or better yet, on campus at DeMartin Field) to help our women’s soccer team get their NCAA Tournament journey underway. The game will be on ESPN+ and is game one of the MSU Saturday quadruple-header as it will be followed up by, in order, games by the basketball, football, and hockey teams. Let’s see if MSU sports can sweep the day!
GO GREEN! GO WHITE!