EAST LANSING – No. 4 seeded Michigan State women’s soccer continued its historic 2022 season on Friday, defeating the Milwaukee Panthers in a 3-2 overtime thriller at DeMartin Stadium. 

The Spartans would storm back to get goals from sisters Celia and Justina Gaynor, after conceding a goal early in the first half. Graduate forward Camryn Evans gave MSU the lead in overtime, which would clinch the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 2008.

“I have been doing this for a long time, and there are not many teams that can come back from a moment like that emotionally and still come out and execute,” said head coach Jeff Hosler. 

In the 55th minute, Justina Gaynor scored on an empty net after dribbling past two Milwaukee defenders to tie up the contest. That was her fourth goal of the season. 

20 minutes later, Celia Gaynor tied the game with a headed goal past Milwaukee, making it 2-2. 

“It’s a huge stage where neither of us has been before, so I think we both embraced the moment and gave it everything we had,” said junior midfielder Justina Gaynor. “We were prepared and ready and took advantage of our opportunities.”

With 20-seconds left to play at the end of regulation, Milwaukee equalized on a free kick scored by Kayla Rollins. 

“They whipped in a perfect ball and got the first touch,” Hosler said. “We were conceding too much territory. We weren’t as disciplined as we needed to be to see the game out.”

Michigan State dominated the stat sheet, recording 15 shots on target, while Milwaukee had four. 

After 90 minutes the game went into overtime.

MSU scored the game-winner in the second period. Senior Lauren DeBeau found an Evans open inside the box and tapped it in to give the Spartans the lead, and ultimately the ticket to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Michigan State will face the TCU Horned Frogs in the second round. Game times will be announced at a further date.