EAST LANSING — As the clouds opened and soared across the sky, it allowed for a beautiful Sunday afternoon in East Lansing to watch the Spartan women’s soccer team defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes in a 1-0 match. 

Michigan State was coming off a win against Iowa in which it won 2-1, while OSU was coming off a 2-1 loss to No. 9 Rutgers.

The Spartans drastically out-shot Iowa, shooting a total of 14 shots in the first period, while Iowa shot six. The Hawkeyes took 13 shots in the second period, while Michigan State took 11. 

The two goals in the win were scored by Spartans Ava Cook and Jordan Wickies.

Michigan State played strong defensively, only giving three fouls in the first period, and one in the second period. 

The Spartans have done exceptionally well this year in conference play with a record of 4-1-1 and an overall record of 9-1-3. MSU came out aggressively, especially on offense, shooting a total of seven shots in the first period and 10 shots in the second period. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, only took a total of five shots in the first period and four shots in the second leaving the Buckeyes with a total of nine shots on the day. 

The Spartans nearly doubled the number of shots the Buckeyes had with a total of 17. Each team’s goalie carried their team defensively, as both had four saves during the entire match. 

The Spartans outscored the Buckeyes in every way possible, including shots, shots on goal and corner kicks. MSU had a total of five shots on goal while only allowing the Buckeyes to have four. 

The Spartans held their ground when giving up fouls and only had one offside call the entire game. During the second period, things got very tense within the last five minutes. MSU gave three consecutive fouls to the Buckeyes between the 63:32 and 64:43 marks. During the 64th minute, a yellow card was called on MSU midfielder Danielle Stephan for unsporting a call against the referee. 

Another crucial moment during the game was caught during the 82nd minute. A handball was called on the Spartans, which would give the Buckeyes a chance at a free kick. Lauren Kozal of OSU missed the shot, which turned the momentum in favor of MSU. 

In the final moments of the game, Spartan forward Lauren DeBeau found the bottom right of the net with the statement play of the game.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” DeBeau said. 

The Buckeyes could not replicate the Spartans on offense, which gave MSU the 1-0 advantage. The Spartans came into the matchup high off of a strong outing against Iowa, and it carried over into Sunday’s win.

MSU will play its next home game in Ann Arbor, where it will kick off against No. 16 Michigan on Thursday. The game serves as the first of the Spartans’ final two road games of the regular season.