A “questionable” call leading to a penalty kick and a pregame injury to sophomore forward Laura Heyboer were too much for the MSU women’s soccer team to overcome, as the Spartans lost 1-0 to Northwestern on Sunday afternoon in Evanston, Ill.
At the 20:10 mark, officials whistled junior defender Samantha Cook for a foul and awarded Northwestern’s Alicia Herczeg a penalty kick.
Herczeg put the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Jill Flietstra for the eventual game-winner.
“Basically, a ball was bouncing around in the box, their gal ran into another one of their gals and Sam Cook was around,” MSU head coach Tom Saxton said.
“For some odd reason, (the officials) gave (Northwestern) a penalty kick.”
Saxton said he was proud of MSU’s effort the rest of the game, despite windy conditions at Lakeside Field.
The Spartans (8-2-4 overall, 1-2-2 Big Ten) had two shots go off the crossbar in the second half — including a shot by freshman forward Olivia Stander in the 57th minute — but couldn’t tie the Wildcats (5-8-2, 2-3-1).
“I thought we handled ourselves very well after the play. It was one of those things that happen,” Saxton said.
During pregame warm-ups, Saxton said Heyboer went down with a “severely sprained ankle.”
Saxton said Heyboer’s ankle simply got caught on the field’s artificial turf. It is not yet known how much time Heyboer will miss.
“Obviously, going forward, that’s a big concern,” Saxton said.
“We’re hitting the stretch run with only two and a half weeks left in the season, and we need one of our best players in there.”
The Spartans will have a few days off before squaring off against Wisconsin at 3 p.m. Friday at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.
It will be the first of three home games in MSU’s last five.
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