EAST LANSING- The Michigan State women’s soccer team could not be more prepared for success. Head coach Jeff Hosler and the Spartans are coming off two Big Ten Championships.
The Spartans placed first in the Big Ten in the 2022 season and followed it up in 2023 on October 22, when the No. 14 ranked Spartans defeated Iowa 3-0 to win their second straight Big Ten Championship.
Looking forward to 2024, MSU adds 11 new freshmen to the roster:
#8 Grace Jackson: 5’7 midfielder from Hudson, OH.
#15 Julia Belli: 5’8 defender from Dublin, OH.
#16 Kaleigh McPherson: 5’3 midfielder from Saint Charles, Mo.
#20 Shelby Vaughn: 5’5 forward from Creston, OH.
#24 Cassidy Corcione: 5’4 defender from Howell, N.J.
#25 Samantha Maroni: 5’8 defender from Centennial, Colo.
#27 Gabriella Paonessa: 5’9 midfielder from Rochester Hills, Mich.
#30 Ava Panduren: 5’5 forward from Almont, Mich.
#33 Lexi Grundler: 5’11 goalkeeper from Brentwood, Tenn.
#34 Madelyn Rousseau: 5’4 forward from Windsor, ON.
#11 Adelle Francis (Redshirt freshman): 5’7 forward from Perrysburg, OH.
Leaders running it back for the 2024 season
After a red-hot freshman year, forward/midfielder Bella Najera steps into another opportunity to keep the Spartans on top of the Big Ten.
The incoming sophomore finished her 2023 season tied for first on the team in points with 24. Najera was able to lead the team in goals, finding the back of the net nine times.
Najera was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman team and Big Ten Second Team.
Head coach Hosler will look to Najera once again to lead a young and talented Spartan squad.
Justina Gaynor will also return to Hosler and the Spartans as a graduate student. Gaynor tied Najera with 24 total points in the 2023 season while leading the team in assists with 12.
Gaynor earned a flurry of honors including Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten, United Soccer Coaches First Team All-North Region, CSC First Team Academic All-America, and Academic All-Big Ten.
The graduate student will be another key piece for 2024 as MSU has its eyes set on another Big Ten Championship.
A roster deep enough to three-peat
Stars like Gaynor and Najera will go and get theirs, but a huge reason for the recent success of MSU is because of how talented this team is one through 11.
Returning graduate student Gabby Mueller finished third on the team in points in 2023 with 14, while notching six goals and two assists.
Mueller was a huge part of MSU and their tournament run as the midfielder totaled 228 minutes played in the Spartans’ tournament run, while also totaling one goal and seven shots in that time frame.
Incoming junior Emerson Sargeant and incoming senior Jordan Wickes also finished alongside Mueller with 14 total points at the end of the 2023 season.
Sargeant appeared in all 22 games last season for the green and white while finishing with four goals and six assists. The midfielder was able to notch Second-Team All-Big Ten honors.
Wickes finished second on the team in goals with seven while recording her first-ever hat-trick on August 24 against Northern Colorado.
Parked in front of the net for a second year at MSU
Another key returning star for the Spartans is goalkeeper Kaitlyn Parks, a graduate student returning for her second year at MSU after being with Wake Forest through the 2019-23 seasons.
Parks started and played in all 22 matches in goal for the Spartans, totaling nine shutouts to rank fifth in single-season shutouts at Michigan State.
She also posted 14 wins, the second-most in a single season in Spartan goalkeeper history, and finished the season with a 0.99 GAA and 0.734 save percentage.
A huge part of the Spartans tournament run as she played 90 minutes in all three NCAA Tournament games, allowing zero goals in wins over Ohio (11/10) and Harvard (11/16) to help the Spartans advance to the program’s first NCAA Third-Round.
Looking ahead to start the 2024 season
Hosler and MSU will start the 2024 season with an exhibition against Depaul on August 10, and begin regular season play in South Bend on August 15 against Notre Dame.
The Spartans will make their home debut at DeMartin Stadium against Arkansas on August 22.
After finishing the 2023 season with a 7-1-2 conference record, MSU will have their first chance to start off hot in conference play against Maryland on September 12 in College Park.
