CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Michigan State women's soccer fell in double overtime to Illinois, 2-1, on the road on Sunday afternoon. This was the Spartans last regular-road game of the season.
MSU falls to 8-6-1 on the season, with a 1-5-1 mark in conference play, while the Illini improve to 8-6-0 and 2-5-0 in Big Ten games. This was the fourth overtime game for the Spartans this season, bringing the team's overtime record to 2-1-1 on the season.
"We really had to go to our bench and get creative; we played a lot of players," MSU head coach
Tom Saxton said. "I thought everyone accounted well for themselves and I was really proud of the efforts on a Sunday after a Friday night game. There was a tremendous team effort all the way around."
Due to a few injuries to the starting lineup, eight Spartans subbed in throughout the game, including sophomore midfielder
Sam Sklarski who played 80 minutes and senior midfielder
Hannah Jones who played 61 minutes.
For the second-straight game, Michigan State got on the board early, with senior forward
Lydia Franks coming off the bench two minutes into the game due to an injury to a Spartan forward, to score her first goal of the season. Sophomore forward
Camryn Evans connected for her sixth assist of the season on a long leading pass up to Franks, who made a run on the right side of the field. Franks fired a rocket from close-range to beat the Illini goalkeeper in the fifth minute of play, to put the Spartans up 1-0.
In the 18
th minute, redshirt-freshman goalkeeper
Lauren Kozal had back-to-back saves to protect the Spartans early lead.
After 45 minutes of play, the Spartans were able to defend the one-goal advantage and fend off the Fighting Illini.
The Illini found the equalizer they were looking for early in the second half, with Makena Silber putting the ball in the back of the net in the 51
st minute.
In the 55
th minute, Kozal showed her skill on a penalty kick attempt by the Fighting Illini. Kozal laid out to make a decisive save on a PK shot by Arianna Veland to keep the game all tied up at 1-1.
For the rest of the half, the Spartans and Illini were evenly contested, with the game needing extra time to decide a winner. Through the second half, Illinois had a 4-3 advantage in shots.
In the two overtime periods, the physicality didn't falter on either side of the ball, with both teams looking for a deciding goal.
The game-winning goal for Illinois would come in the 103
rd minute, with Hope Breslin converting on a PK attempt.
Kozal ended the game with eight saves for the Spartans, while junior midfielder
Bella Jodzis led the team with two shots.
"We played two great games this weekend; very pleased with the team's performance, all through the depth and overcoming some of the injuries we've had," Saxton said. "If you look at the process and the way we played, it was a really good weekend, unfortunately the results in our sport don't always go the way that the game goes. I'm confident that we'll be ready to go for that four-game homestand and that starts with our in-state rivals and we'll be ready."
UP NEXT: Michigan State returns home to the friendly confines of DeMartin Stadium next week for the beginning of a four-match home stand to conclude the regular season. MSU will face in-state rival Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 5:00 p.m. in a doubleheader with the men's soccer team, who take on Ohio State at 7:30 p.m.