EAST LANSING—No. 18 Michigan State hosted Purdue this afternoon at DeMartin Field to close out the regular season. The Spartans defeated the Boilermakers 3-1 with two late goals to push them ahead.
In the opening 10 minutes of gameplay, Michigan State registered the only shot with an attempt by graduate forward Mackenzie Anthony in the box. Two minutes later, graduate midfielder Justina Gaynor sent a shot over the crossbar.
Graduate goalkeeper Kaitlyn Parks picked up her only save in the first 45 minutes of play with a shot by senior forward Lexi Fraley in the 14th minute.
In the 23rd minute, Anthony sent a shot just over the goal line to give the Spartans an early 1-0 lead. The remainder of the first half was dominated by the Spartans, who gained four more corners and forced two saves.
Graduate forward Meg Hughes forced one of those saves by sophomore goalkeeper Emily Edwards, who made an impressive one-legged sliding save to prevent the ball from crossing the goal line.
Despite the heavy attack, the Spartans would not find the back of the net again and headed into the break carrying the 1-0 lead with them.
The Spartans started off the second half with a header by Anthony that goes just wide. Following that header, the Spartans would attempt two more shots, but neither would be on target.
In the 55th minute, Gaynor slotted a pass to sophomore midfielder Bella Najera who sent a shot that went just high over the crossbar.
Senior forward Gracie Dunaway sent a shot to the top right corner of the net forcing Parks to tally another save, however, a second shot from Dunaway one minute later found the corner of the net and would equalize the score 1-1.
The Boilermakers stepped it up and held the Spartans to around 25 minutes of no chances on goal and had Parks step in for two more saves.
In the 80th minute, sophomore defender Renee Watson forced a save by graduate goalkeeper Claire Wyville, which gave the Spartans momentum to finish the last 10 minutes of gameplay.
“When we’re playing well and playing with urgency, I think we’re one of the best teams in the country,” MSU head coach Jeff Hosler stated.
Watson sent a corner kick to a defender, who freshman midfielder Kaleigh McPherson managed to get ahold of. McPherson ripped a left-footed shot, which found the back of the net and scored her first goal in the green and white.
“I’ve been waiting for that all season,” McPherson said. “I’ve had really close chances with that exact same goal, where it’s come down and I’ve been trying to half-volley it, but right there, it was one that I wanted.”
Keeping that same momentum, in the 84th minute, graduate midfielder Gabby Mueller played a ball that found Hughes, who slipped it past Wyville to extend the lead and solidify the Spartan win.
Despite the efforts by the Boilermakers, they would only get one last attempt on goal before the time ran out.
Michigan State earns the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will play in the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
“We have a chip on our shoulder because there were a few opponents in the regular season that we wanted to beat and we probably should have,” McPherson stated. “But we hope that we get to see them again so we can do it all over again.”
The Spartans will take on the No. 5 seed, Rutgers, on Saturday, November 2 in Minnesota.
