Lansing Sun

Michigan State men's soccer opened the season with a 1-1 tie against No. 25 SIUE on Thursday night at Ralph Korte Stadium in Edwardsville, Illinois.

The match reunited Michigan State head coach Damon Rensing with former assistant coach Cale Wassermann, now in his sixth season as head coach of the Cougars. This is the second consecutive tie in the series following a 0-0 result in 2019 in East Lansing.

"I give a lot of credit to Cale Wassermann our former assistant," MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. "He does a nice job as the head coach at SIUE. They have a good team. It was a good way to start the season with a road tie. We will regroup and get ready for Bowling Green on Monday."

Before the end of the first half, Michigan State scored its first goal of the season. In the 38th minute, Elliott Forestier committed a foul in the box. Senior midfielder Sean Kerrigan stepped up to take the penalty kick and scored to put MSU up 1-0.

The Cougars found an equalizer in the 61st minute when Patrick Coleman assisted Nic Muench, who scored past MSU redshirt-junior goalkeeper Zac Kelly.

"It was a hard-fought battle. I thought we were really good in the first half," Rensing said. "We were able to draw the penalty with the foul in the box, and Kerrigan put it away. I thought we had a chance in the second half to go up 2-1. Statistically, we out-shot them 12-4, and did a lot of good things; we just didn't get the result."

For the game, MSU out-shot SIUE 12-4.

The Spartans will now prepare for their home opener on Monday, Aug. 26 against Bowling Green at 7 p.m., which is also Welcome Back Student Night at DeMartin Stadium.