MSU earns a 5 seed and opens the NCAA tournament against Western Michigan
After an outstanding regular season that saw the Spartans rise all the way to #1 in the national polls, Women’s Soccer will begin their third straight NCAA tournament appearance as the 5 seed in their region. Ten other Big Ten conference teams are in the field of 64 as well as Notre Dame and Arkansas, who MSU played in the regular season.
Michigan State will host Western Michigan in the first round on Saturday November 16 at noon. I have not seen any announcements yet regarding TV or streaming options for the game but check msuspartans.com as kickoff gets closer.
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Western enters the tournament as the Mid American Conference champion with a 13-1-6 record, including 8-0-3 in the MAC. Their record speaks for itself and the Broncos seem to be a solid team that can challenge MSU. Western has faced some Big Ten opponents this year playing Iowa and Wisconsin to 1-1 ties. MSU did not play Iowa but defeated Wisconsin 2-0 in the regular season. Ohio University is another common opponent, with Western tying the Bobcats 1-1 on September 19 and Michigan State defeating Ohio 3-0 on August 25. Western’s only loss was 3-0 at Creighton on August 29 and they enter the tournament on a 16 game unbeaten streak.
The Broncos are making their fourth NCAA tournament appearance and are led by graduate student forward Jen Blitchok who ranks fourth in the nation in total goals with 17.
The Spartans-Broncos winner will take on the winner between #4 seed Texas and Patriot League champion Boston University on November 22. Third round games are on November 24. The highest remaining seed in the region after the first round games will host the second and third rounds. Duke is the #1 seed in MSU’s region. Texas Tech is the #8 seed in MSU’s half of the regional bracket and will play LSU in the first round. The full tournament bracket can be found here .
Elsewhere in MSU sports, fifth seeded Men’s Soccer battled #4 Washington for 110 scoreless minutes on Thursday in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals before the Huskies prevailed 5-3 on penalty kicks.
MSU ends their season at 5-7-5 but could return several key players next year including Big Ten Goalkeeper of The Year and first team all conference selection Zac Kelly.
Women’s Basketball improved to 3-0 with a 100-44 smashing of Yale on Friday before following that up by beating Eastern Michigan 95-49 last night. Junior forward Grace VanSlooten led the Spartans with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals against the Bulldogs while junior guard Theryn Hallock had 18 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals against EMU. The Spartan defense forced 29 Eagles turnovers.
MSU hosts Eastern Kentucky on Thursday November 14 at 6:30 PM (streaming on Big Ten +) before their first road game of the season at Western Michigan (Sunday November 17, 5 PM, streaming on ESPN+).
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Rachel Forsyth was named Women’s Cross Country Big Ten Freshman of the Year after placing fourth at the Big Ten Championships. She is only the sixth Spartan to earn this award. Taylor Ewert received the Sportsmanship award for women’s cross country while Parker Lambers took home the award in Men’s Cross Country.
Cross Country resumes postseason action on November 15 at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Norton, OH.
Carmen Pucheta was named the Big Ten Field Hockey Freshman of the Year last week. This is in addition to Pucheta earning first team all conference honors and making the all freshman team.
In Men’s Tennis, Aristotelis Thanos earned a spot in the NCAA individual championships over the weekend by winning the ITA Midwest Regionals. He is the first MSU tennis player to win the ITA Regional singles championship and will join fellow Spartan Ozan Baris in Waco, TX for the NCAA meet, which runs from November 19-24.
Volleyball fell 3-1 at Maryland on Thursday but rebounded for a 3-1 win at Rutgers on Friday. The Spartans are now 9-16 overall and 2-12 in the Big Ten. In a loaded Big Ten conference, MSU sits in 17th place. The Spartans host Michigan at 6 PM Friday November 15 before traveling to Iowa for a 3 PM Sunday match.
In Wrestling, redshirt freshman Caleb Weiand won the 125 pound freshman/sophomore division at the Michigan State Open at Jenison Field House on Saturday. Other top three finishes for MSU included Jack Conley – 2nd in the 157 lb freshman/sophomore bracket; Cory Thomas – 2nd, 184 lb freshman/sophomore; Remy Cotton – 3rd 197 lb open; and Luke Daly – 3rd, 184 lb open.