Lansing Sun

Michigan State men's soccer secured its second consecutive win with a 1-0 victory over Northwestern on Tuesday night at DeMartin Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. The Spartans have now achieved two straight clean sheets and four for the season. This win brings their record to 4-4-2 overall and 3-1-0 in Big Ten play, while Northwestern's record falls to 5-5-0 overall and 0-4-0 in league play.

"I might have to give Oakland University a lot of credit for beating us 3-0 prior to the conference. I turned to my administrator Julee Burgess and said 'maybe that was the best thing that's happened to us'," MSU head coach Damon Rensing stated. "It really kind of put a fire under us, and we've been defending well. We've got re-organized in the back and put an emphasis on it. The good thing is we've been getting shutouts, but we're also creating a ton of chances. At some point we're going to have to score more than one goal, but we'll take 1-0 victories any time."

The first half saw equal opportunities from both teams. In the 22nd minute, MSU had one of its most dangerous chances when senior midfielder Shion Soga's shot eluded Northwestern goalkeeper Rafael Ponce De Leon, only for Bryant Mayer to make a crucial save.

The game remained scoreless at halftime with both teams recording three shots each.

In the 63rd minute, junior forward Jake Spadafora initiated a play up the right side, leading to Guggemos scoring his first goal of the season with Spadafora earning his first assist.

Redshirt-junior goalkeeper Zac Kelly, who was named Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week, matched his season-high with four saves during another strong performance.

"Back-to-back clean sheets - it's huge," Kelly commented. "I mean you can't lose a game if you're not giving up goals and for us, it gives us that chance to win and a good opportunity. We put the ball in the back of the net; you're not giving up the goal; you win. It's a pretty easy recipe for success."

Michigan State outshot Northwestern 11-8 by game's end, though Northwestern held an advantage in corner kicks with four compared to Michigan State's two.

"There's no place like DeMartin. It was a perfect fall night," Rensing remarked. "Our grounds people are amazing; I mean this field is in perfect shape, with a little dew the ball was just moving perfectly. You could just tell that the guys were excited to play at home. I appreciate with all the high school and other stuff going on in the community - I really appreciate the crowd that we got, the Rowdies coming out on a late Tuesday night; you know an 8 p.m. start's tough, but we had great community support, so no place like DeMartin."

Michigan State will next face No. 12 Maryland on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m.