As we usually do, the Spartans dominated the first half outshooting the Illini 8-2. Around 20 minutes in, Emerson Sargeant appeared to have a good shot, but it ended up hitting Kayla Briggs in the back of the head. In the 36th minute, a shot by Renee Watson bounced off the woodwork. Hosler waited quite a bit longer than the Illini to start subbing in players, almost towards the end of the half. Barely a minute after Samantha Maroni entered, she took a sliding tackle in the box to prevent a shot from Illinois' Garcia-Terrell. It was hard to tell, though she appeared to get the ball, but the Illini coach challenged this trying to get a penalty kick. They did not award it after review. We went into halftime scoreless.

Right at the start of the second half, the Illini appeared to get a goal, but it was waved off for offsides. I have both hated and never understood the offsides rule in soccer, and it felt kinda BS to me, but I won't complain _too_ much about a call in our favor. They were a lot more competitive in this half, and their keeper continued saving most of our shot attempts. It really appeared that we were headed for a draw. However, with just a few minutes left to go, Sargeant passed the ball to Briggs again, and this time she passed it back to Bella Najera who put it in the back of the net to get us the W. The Illini pushed hard in the final minute and managed to get a corner kick in the final seconds, but they were unable to score.

The Spartans improve to 9-1-2 and are now 5-1 in B1G conference play. We are tied for first with Ohio State and UCLA, however the Spartans have the head to head win over the Bruins. The Bruins have the win over the Buckeyes. Nationally, we are currently #1 in the RPI and our early win over North Carolina has aged quite well. Our next match will be against Minnesota on Wednesday evening.

Note that this is likely the last game for a while for Lacey Kindel and Samantha Powell, they have both been called up for Canada's national team in the U17 FIFA world cup.

Stats

	Michigan State	Illinois
Shots	14	6
Shots on goal	7	3
Saves	3	6
Corner kicks	7	3
Offsides	1	3
Fouls	6	9

Goals

• 86' MSU - Bella Najera, assist by Kayla Briggs, Emerson Sargeant

Cards

• 36' ILL 🟨 Sophia McMillan
• 40' ILL 🟨 Ashlyn Adams
• 71' MSU 🟨 Lacey Kindel
• 71' ILL 🟨 Alyssa White
• 90' MSU 🟨 Emerson Sargeant

After a close call against Notre Dame, the Spartans didn't leave anything to chance against USC. Kayla Briggs scored the first goal just a few minutes into the game to give us an early lead and we never looked back. The Trojans just could not get anything going against our defense, and several of their failed attempts to get a shot off ultimately led to goals for MSU. The score could have been even more lopsided, Kennedy Bell nearly got a hat trick but the USC goalkeeper managed to thwart some of her early shots.

The most concerning event in the game for us was that Emerson Sargeant went down holding her knee after a collision and awkward landing. She had to get some help to gingerly leave the field and she did not return to the game afterwards. It is not clear how serious this is, I don't think they provided any update on the broadcast. I'm hoping she did not return to the game because it was already becoming a one sided affair and they'd rather not risk aggravating anything unnecessarily.

While USC's record doesn't look great (1-4-2), it is notable that their last game ended in a draw against #1 Stanford, and two of their losses include #3 Duke and #9 BYU. It is nice to see that we almost scored as many goals against them as all of those teams put together!

The Spartans remain undefeated at 5-0-2. Our next match is on Sunday against #16 UCLA. The Bruins are 4-2-1, having lost 0-3 to Stanford, 1-2 to BYU, and tied 1-1 against Duke. Go Green! 💚🤍

Stats:

	Michigan State	USC
Shots	17	8
Shots on goal	8	1
Saves	1	3
Corner kicks	11	4
Offsides	4	1
Fouls	8	12

Goals:

• 06' MSU - Kayla Briggs, assist by Kennedy Bell
• 28' MSU - Kennedy Bell, assist by Kayla Briggs, Bella Najera
• 30' MSU - Kennedy Bell, assist by Bella Najera, Lacey Kindel
• 65' MSU - Renee Watson, assist by Kayla Briggs
• 87' MSU - Shelby Vaughn, assist by Eden Bretzer

Cards:

• None

The expectations for Notre Dame this season were sky-high, starting at #2 in the preseason poll. They stumbled right out of the gate, opening with a scoreless draw against Samford, followed by a 2-2 tie against Penn State and a 1-1 tie against Nebraska. A 3-0 win over Murray State did little to silence their critics, especially after another 1-1 draw against Michigan.

​Tonight, the Fighting Irish were finally poised to redeem themselves with a quality win and prove every coach who dropped them out of this week's poll wrong. Leading 2-1 with less than five seconds left on the clock, Notre Dame was about to hand #4 Michigan State their first loss of the season... and then Ella Janz scored the equalizer for the Spartans!

Thanks to DTE, I had to watch this game on my phone, so I don't have the battery left to write much more. The TL;DR is we looked like the better team in the first half, but towards the end of the half they flipped the tables on us. In the second half, the game was much more competitive and it was not all due to Notre Dame. I thought we made a few mistakes that gave them unnecessary scoring opportunities, such as the foul that led to their missed penalty kick. Nevertheless, having watched the final minutes feeling like that first L had finally arrived, it is hard to complain after that dramatic finish!

Stats:

	Michigan State	Notre Dame
Shots	16	21
Shots on goal	7	6
Saves	4	5
Fouls	14	15
Corners	4	6
Offsides	5	1

Goals:

• 59' MSU - Kayla Briggs
• 61' ND - Reese Canada
• 83' ND - Charlie Codd
• 89' MSU - Ella Janz (assist by Kayla Briggs, Lacey Kindel)

Cards

• 01' 🟨 ND - Charlie Codd
• 21' 🟨 ND - Gracie Milam
• 43' 🟨 ND - Marley Adams
• 58' 🟨 ND - Team (Coach)
• 61' 🟨 MSU - Samantha Maroni
• 80' 🟨 ND - Clare Logan

We end our non-conference slate 4-0-2 and begin conference play next week against USC.

Go Green! 💚🤍

Michigan State volleyball continues its undefeated non-conference run with a solid win over LSU and practically running South Carolina out of the Crisler Center!

The Spartans opened the season with a 3-2 win over Miami (FL) and a 3-0 win over Long Island. With this week's results we are now 4-0. Hopefully, getting this early experience against a few Power 4 teams will have us better prepared than we were last season. I am optimistic that we will see a return to the NCAA tournament this season, but we will be facing some formidable opponents when conference play begins. The B1G is a gauntlet with some of the top teams in the country, there won't be many easy games. There's a lot to be excited about though if the team continues like this! I will post occasional updates as the season progresses.

Our next game is on Saturday against Central Michigan.

Go Green! 💚🤍

Tuesday (vs LSU)

	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Michigan State	25	25	25
LSU	21	20	19

	Michigan State	LSU
Points	48	37
Kills	36	27
Aces	4	3
Blocks	8	7
Assists	32	27
Digs	29	29

Wednesday (vs South Carolina)

	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Michigan State	25	25	25
South Carolina	14	12	13

	Michigan State	South Carolina
Points	64	28
Kills	43	23
Aces	10	2
Blocks	11	3
Assists	40	23
Digs	36	28

	OSU	UW
Shots	14	13
Shots on goal	5	7
Saves	4	1
Corner kicks	8	11
Offsides	0	2
Fouls	11	13
Pac	12	0

Goals

• 29' UW - Egor Akulov, assist by Alex Hall
• 47' OSU - Milo Wray, assist by Gavin Wolff, Oliver Hernandez Parra
• 50' OSU - Tim Hoffman, assist by Max Eisenberg
• 58' UW - Harrison Bertos, assist by Alex Hall
• 63' OSU - Max Eisenberg, assist by Michael Nesci, Gavin Wolff
• 66' OSU - Wyatt Borso, assist by Oliver Hernandez Parra
• 80' UW - Osato Enabulele, assist by Cameron Cruz, Zack Meier

Cards

• 🟨 63' OSU - Max Eisenberg
• 🟨 74' OSU - John Koutelieris
• 🟨 84' UW - Zack Meier
• 🟨 84' OSU - Evan Carlock
• 🟨 89' UW - Asher Hestad
• 🟨 89' OSU - Oregon State bench

The Beavs are 2-0-1 after this game and will continue their non-conference schedule on Friday against Georgetown.

A nice way to bounce back after being held to a scoreless 0-0 draw by Eastern Michigan a few days ago! I didn't watch most of that game unfortunately, but it seems there wasn't much to see. We did not have our usual starting goalkeeper Noelle Henning because she has been called up for Canada's team in the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup. Bella Schopp is standing in until she's back, though she didn't get much practice in her first game since EMU didn't take any shots at all, let alone on goal.

Now on to today's game! We faced Colorado twice last season, walking away with a 1-1 tie in our season opener and a 2-1 win in the Sweet Sixteen. Interestingly, the Buffs were also coming off a 0-0 tie against a directional Michigan university (Western).

We started off well with Kayla Briggs getting the ball into the back of the net in the first minute of the game (we did that to them last season in the tournament too!) This was disallowed due to an offside call, the BTN commentators were confused on who was offside and I didn't understand it either. The refs did not review this at all, and Hosler didn't say anything. 🤷 After this the Spartans generally controlled the ball and we had two good offensive pushes where we took multiple shots at their goal, but without luck.

Around 20 minutes in, Kennedy Bell pushed into the box before the ball was tackled out for a corner. Colorado cleared it, but Ella Janz sent it right back to Faith George, who served a cross that bounced off a Buff into the net for an own goal. They tried to respond with a rare shot on our goal but Schopp caught it. A few minutes later George and Bell got the ball back in their final third again, leading to a cross for Emerson Sargeant who kicked it past the keeper for her first goal of the season. Again, Colorado tried to respond but crashed into Schopp as she slid into the ball. Most of their other attempts kinda dissolved as they approached our goal. They didn't get many shots, but the few they did were not bad.

With 13 minutes left in the half, Briggs and Sargeant tried to connect with Bell who was positioned for a header, but Hope Leyba interfered. The Buffs managed to clear the corner kick... to Bella Najera, who passed it to Bell for another shot. The Colorado keeper blocked this as well, but Sargeant jumped on the loose ball to bury it in the net. The Buffs were fortunate to reach halftime without being down 5-0.

For the second half, Colorado had pulled their starting goalie and this seems to have been a good call on their part. The Buffs finally managed to get a really good look at our goal, where a dangerous sequence unfolded as Schopp ran forward to stop the ball, and did, but the ball was left loose with nothing between it and the net. We managed to clear the ball away, but this set the tone for the half where Colorado was playing much more effectively. After a few more close calls, they did eventually get their first goal. Kennedy Bell got the ball and very nearly got us a 4th goal as an immediate response but the goalie kicked it away from her at the last second. Renee Watson and Lacey Kindel (who is apparently 16?!) teamed up for a few more attempts on the net without success.

It seemed like we were going to cruise to a 3-1 finish, then with 13 minutes to go the Leyba twins teamed up to score another goal for Colorado. Bell tried to answer it immediately, but the kick was just a bit too wide. The tempo of the game picked up at this point as Colorado realized they could win this. However, I feel that we did start to regain control of the game at this point and spent more time holding on to the ball and setting up opportunities on their side. In the final minute we started wasting time kicking the ball around in the corner getting corner kicks and throw ins while the Buffs were in desperation mode. This led to a Colorado player getting a yellow card for a frustration foul and time ran out shortly afterwards.

Shots (on goal)	1st	2nd
Michigan State	14 (5)	5 (1)
Colorado	3 (2)	9 (4)

	Michigan State	Colorado
Saves	4	5
Corner kicks	11	2
Fouls	5	12
Offsides	1	1

Goals

• 20' MSU (own goal by Colorado)
• 24' MSU Emerson Sargeant (assist by Kennedy Bell and Faith George)
• 32' MSU Emerson Sargeant (assist by Kennedy Bell)
• 57' COL Reagan Kotschau (assist by Lexi Meyer)
• 76' COL Hope Leyba (assist by Faith Leyba)

Cards

• 14' 🟨 MSU Kaleigh McPherson
• 89' 🟨 COL Reagan Kotschau

The Spartans are now 3-0-1 and will end the non-conference schedule on Thursday with a trip down south to face #25 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were ranked #2 in the preseason poll, but after draws against Samford, Penn State, Nebraska they have fallen to #25. Their sole win was against Murray State, and their most recent result was a draw against Michigan. I'm skeptical they will be ranked by the time we play.

Go Green! 💚🤍

Don't let the score fool you, the game wasn't that close!

For the entire first half North Carolina was cutting through our defense like it was made of butter and our offense didn't appear to have much of a pulse. I don't know what the actual possession number was in the end, but based on vibes it felt like 90% Tar Heels at times. However, Kennedy Bell was dangerous in transition and despite the lopsided statistics we scored first! North Carolina unleashed an onslaught after that, with a wild sequence where we barely kept the ball out of the net but it ended with an equalizer.

The second half started off as more of the same, the Tar Heels had outshot us 6-2 after the equalizer, but Kennedy Bell delivered for us again and we took the lead again! She was trying to do it for a third time when she took a hit to her ankle that sent her off the field for a while, but she did return later in the game. UNC continued to control the tempo of the game after this, but everything turned upside down when Emerson Sargeant was both pushed from behind and tripped right as she was driving into the UNC box. There was no call but Hosler challenged this and upon review it was deemed DOGSO and a red card for UNC. Bella Najera took the direct free kick and buried it into the back of the net to give us a 2 goal lead.

Having a one player advantage definitely helped us be a lot more competitive and we were able to string together passes and break up attacks by UNC, but to be honest with you it felt more like we were finally evenly matched rather than having a huge advantage over them. With 17 minutes left, a UNC player was clipped on the ankle in our box, and this was called as a penalty kick for them. Hosler challenged it, and personally I did not think it should have been a penalty, but the refs upheld the call on the field. Unfortunately, Noelle Henning was not able to save this and the penalty kick breathed life into UNC. They had a couple of dangerous attempts but we managed to hang on and close out the game to get the W.

MSU is the first non-ACC team to win at North Carolina since 2022. If we hadn't conceded the penalty we had a chance of becoming the first team to win by multiple goals at Dorrance Field since 2019, but alas that will have to wait for another day.

So in summary, there's a ton we have to work on, this very well could have been a blowout loss... but it wasn't! We bent, but we did not actually break, and it doesn't matter how dominant a team was during the match if they don't leave the field with a win! Even before the red card, despite all the stats favoring UNC, we did have the lead after all. I think facing this kind of adversity early in the season is great, the team should have time to learn from this before we inevitably face a similar team in the NCAA tournament.

Stats:

	MSU	UNC
Shots	7	21
Shots on Goal	4	5
Saves	3	1
Fouls	16	15
Corners	2	9
Offsides	0	0

Goals:

• 20' MSU Kennedy Bell, assist by Ella Janz
• 22' UNC Summer Denigan, assist by Scottie Antonucci
• 52' MSU Kennedy Bell, assist by Emerson Sargeant and Mackenzie Kruer
• 62' MSU Bella Najera
• 72' UNC Sealey Strawn (Penalty kick)

Cards:

• 🟥 62' UNC Bella Gaetino
• 🟨 70' UNC Cali O'Neill
• 🟨 84' MSU Faith George

The Spartans are 3-0 in the middle of our non-conference schedule. We face Eastern Michigan on Thursday, followed by #17 Colorado next Sunday, both at DeMartin. We end our non-conference schedule on September 3rd when we travel to face #8 Notre Dame.

Go Green! 💚🤍

The Spartans played lights out.... literally! There was some kinda power outage in the second half that plunged DeMartin into darkness. They fixed it within a few minutes, after B1G+ gave us a look at the potato-quality night vision camera feed.

Loyola did a pretty good job at disrupting our offense in the final stretch, and even when we did get a good look, their goalie kept us out of the net. They did not manage to do much else though. Eventually, Kayla Briggs got one past them late in the game, unsurprising given that she has a knack for scoring game winners. It probably helped us a tiny bit that 2 Loyola players collided into each other and fell over as they tried to stop Faith George at the start of the sequence that led to the goal.

There are definitely a few things to work on and sort out before we face #7 North Carolina on Sunday, but for now we are 2-0 and starting off the season well!

Team	MSU	Loyola
Shots	21	3
Shots on goal	6	2
Saves	2	5
Corner Kicks	14	2
Offsides	3	0
Fouls	11	14

The beginning of the season is rapidly approaching with an exhibition match against Seattle U on Saturday followed by an exhibition match against Portland in Corvallis on August 14.

Non-conference play begins against UC Irvine the following week.

At the end of the month we will face the defending NCAA champion and preseason #1 ranked Washington. The Beavs have an excellent opportunity to start the season a statement win, and deliver some payback for the loss that ended our last season.

Go Beavs! 🧡🦫🖤