Northwestern
Michigan State
NU Drops Tight Decision to Michigan State, 2-0
9/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 26, 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Sophomore goalkeeper Sherri-Anne Nyberg (Kelowna, British Columbia/Kelowna Secondary) made 11 saves and the Northwestern defense limited the chances for the top scoring team in the Big Ten, but it was Michigan State which came out on top, 2-0, Sunday at the Leonard B. Thomas Athletic Complex.
The Spartans came out hard in the first half, but Nyberg denied shot after shot, including a couple of acrobatic saves to keep MSU scoreless. Freshman Cassie Miller (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) had a good chance late in the first half for NU, but was turned away for the only Michigan State save of the game.
"Our defensive performance was tremendous," NU head coach Kelly McCollum said. "They put us in a position to win this game."
Michigan State (10-1, 1-0 Big Ten) finally broke the deadlock in the 51st minute, scoring on a penalty corner.
In the 62nd minute, the Wildcats fought back against their fourth-ranked opponents. NU (6-4, 0-1 Big Ten) earned a pair of penalty corners, but were not able to convert on either.
"We did well getting the ball over into our offensive end," McCollum said. "We just did not make their goalkeeper work. This was a hard fought game. We came out to play our game and win, but we could not capitalize on our chances."
With the NU defense pushed up looking for the tying score, Michigan State caged its second goal on a breakaway with 1:02 left in the match.
Northwestern returns to action at noon Friday against No. 18 Harvard in a neutral site match in Ann Arbor, Mich.
