University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Michigan State
Gophers Drop Home Contest to Michigan State
10/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
 |
|  | |||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 |
Oct. 15, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's soccer team fell to the Michigan State Spartans 1-0 Thursday night at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium.
With the loss, the Gophers move to 11-3-2 overall and 6-2-0 in Big Ten play.
"At the end of the game, we talked to the team and said that if we played the full game the way we played that second half, there's no question that we would have we would have came out on top of this game," said head coach Stefanie Golan. "In the second half, we played well enough to win a national championship. It's unfortunate that the first half we didn't come out with that same level and one lapse led to their goal."
In the ninth minute of play, Michigan State sophomore Jamie Cheslik found service from junior Marisa Oleksiak from inside the 18 to slot past Gopher junior goalkeeper, Tarah Hobbs.
In the first half, Minnesota tallied two shots to Michigan State's six, earned three corner kicks to the Spartans two, made one save and have five fouls while MSU had three.
"We were just there being content with winning the middle third of the field and games aren't won or lost in the middle third," said Golan. "We were down because of that one lapse defensively and we had to come out being better in our defensive third. We didn't have that edge or level of intensity that we needed to win a game."
The game looked as though it would be a tale of two halves as the Gophers came out hot on both sides of the ball working endlessly to create and capitalize on opportunities.
In the second half, the Maroon and Gold had twelve shots while holding Michigan State to three, earned two corner kicks while not allowing any to the Spartans and had four fouls.
Junior co-captain Simone Kolander contributed six shots for the Gophers while junior Josee Stiever added four and redshirt senior Taylor Stainbrook, sophomore Maddie Gaffney, freshman April Bockin and sophomore Tori Burnett each had one.
On the night, Hobbs made four key saves but with the allowed goal, her record moves to 10-3-2.
"For us moving forward, we're going to always be seeing someone's best," said Golan. "We have to bring out best to be able to come out on top and credit to Michigan State for capitalizing on the one opportunity that we gave them and for hanging on for dear life in the second half when we were all over them with opportunity after opportunity."
"We have to come out every game playing like we want to be Big Ten champions." said Golan. "We have three games left to get it right."
LOOKING AHEAD
Minnesota will host the Michigan State Wolverines at ELR for a 1:00 face off.
Next week, the Maroon and Gold will travel to New Brunswick, N.J. for a single-game weekend against Rutgers.
The final game of the regular season for the Gophers will be hosted at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium for a 7:00 p.m. match-up against Illinois on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
FOLLOW THE GOPHERS
Are you following the Gophers on the road or from home? Make sure to follow @GopherSoccer on Twitter and use the team's new hashtag #Unbreakable. You can also check for updates on Facebook and Instagram by "liking" Golden Gopher Soccer on Facebook or following the Gophers on Instagram.
###
