Kickin' It

Halloween has come and gone. But I have a spooky story for you.

I call it: The Curse of the Left Side of the Press Box.

This story goes back to last season — my first year covering the MSU men’s soccer team.

Last year was the first season the Spartans played in the brand new DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field, which featured a sparkly new set of bleachers and a new press box.

Since the stadium’s creation last season, there has been one common and weird trend.

In the 20 home games at DeMartin Stadium in the last two years, the Spartans have only lost four times. And in every one of the losses, I have been assigned a seat on the left side of the press box.

I distinctly remember both losses for the Spartans at DeMartin Stadium last season. The first was a 2-1 loss to Vermont on Aug. 31 in the team’s second game of the season. The next loss didn’t come until Nov. 25 in the NCAA Tournament game against Illinois-Chicago. And I’ll never forget that game. The Spartans outplayed Illinois-Chicago but couldn’t find a goal, eventually losing in penalty kicks. Because it was an NCAA Tournament game, the press box was crowded with reporters and I definitely was seated on the left side.

This season, in MSU’s 1-0 losses to Ohio State and Penn State, I was assigned to the left side of the press box because both tilts were on the Big Ten Network and they were occupying my usual seat.

I recognized this trend prior to the Michigan game on Oct. 25. The press box was crowded that Sunday when the Wolverines came to town, so I set myself up on the left side. But as soon as the Big Ten Network crew was packed up, I moved over to the right side of the box. The result — a narrow 2-1 Spartans victory.

But that isn’t all. It gets stranger.

When I told MSU women’s soccer reporter Cash Kruth about my weird trend prior to the U-M game, he noticed a similarity this season.

And his story is much creepier than mine.

In the Spartans 3-2 overtime victory over Penn State on Sept. 27, senior midfielder Lauren Sinacola went down with a season-ending torn ACL. And Cash was on the left side of the press box.

Then on Oct. 25, when the Spartans defeated Minnesota, 2-1, Laura Heyboer went down with a season-ending broken leg. Again, Cash was seated on the left side of the box.

Coincidence or curse?

Call us superstitious or crazy, but Cash and I plan on setting up shop on the right side of the press box for the remaining games at DeMartin Stadium.

The MSU women’s soccer team took another hit earlier this week, when freshman midfielder Jordan Mueller tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) Wednesday during practice to end her season prematurely.

Mueller’s torn ACL marks the third such injury the Spartans have faced this season. Senior midfielders Kate Rehor and Lauren Sinacola also tore theirs earlier this season.

“We’re at practice Wednesday and Jordan makes a little cut with nobody around her and she said, ‘I felt something pop,’” MSU head coach Tom Saxton said. “Her face turned white as a ghost, and we thought, ‘Oh my God.’”

At the time, the MSU training staff didn’t know whether Mueller’s ACL was torn, but Saxton said Mueller called him in the middle of the night because she couldn’t sleep due to the pain.

Mueller, from Detroit Mercy Catholic, has been a mainstay in the starting lineup since making her first career start Sept. 6 against Central Michigan. She’ll end her freshman season with two goals and four assists, starting 11 of MSU’s 14 games.

In other injury news, Saxton said sophomore forward Laura Heyboer, who suffered a severely sprained ankle while warming up against Northwestern Oct. 18, is “nowhere near ready and I’m very doubtful (she’ll play) Sunday (against Minnesota).”

Sophomore forward Laura Heyboer is “doubtful” for Friday, and also may miss Sunday’s game against Wisconsin, MSU women’s soccer head coach Tom Saxton said Wednesday.

“I’d say doubtful for Friday and maybe for the weekend,” Saxton said. “She got it pretty good.”

Saxton also said Heyboer is wearing a boot.

Heyboer, who is second on the team with seven goals this season, severely sprained her ankle Sunday as the Spartans were warming up at Northwestern’s Lakefront Field for their game against the Wildcats.

Saxton said Heyboer saw Dr. Jeff Kovan on Monday morning, but he still reiterated that she’s doubtful, although Heyboer said she was hoping to play.

“She wanted to play and we took a couple looks at it and were basically like, ‘Hey we’re jeopardizing the entire stretch run if we throw her out there,’” Saxton said of playing Heyboer against Northwestern. “It swelled up pretty quickly and she got immediate treatment, and she’s in a boot right now.”

I met up with a couple of the guys from the MSU men’s soccer team this afternoon.

Here are some extra notes as the team prepares for Indiana on Sunday.

Gotta restart

To help stimulate the struggling offense, the Spartans hope to capitalize with a restart goal.

Senior defender Tim Granaderos, the Spartans’ go-to man on restarts, said the team just hasn’t been on the same page when it comes to restart opportunities.

“It’s either been a good ball and we weren’t there, or we were there and there was a lack of a good service,” Granaderos said. “We just have to come together and try to get on whatever comes our way.”

The Spartans (6-4-1 overall, 0-3-0 Big Ten) have continued to frequently work on restarts in practice, and junior midfielder Jeff Ricondo said he thinks the team is “due” for a restart goal.

“Hopefully we will get one at some point,” Ricondo said. “We have big bodies to throw up there, so I think we will come away with a goal sooner or later.”

Injury Report

MSU head coach Damon Rensing said junior midfielder Nosa Iyoha is getting closer and closer to game shape.

Iyoha injured his knee prior to the start of the season and has played limited minutes in all the Spartans games so far this year.

“Nosa’s been good,” Rensing said. “He will train a little bit today. He got a little nicked up in the Wisconsin game, but he’s getting there.”

No timetable has been set for the return of sophomore forward Domenic Barone.

Barone injured his knee on Oct. 4 in the Spartans 1-0 loss to Penn State and Rensing said he doesn’t expect Barone back anytime soon.

TV time

For the fourth straight week, the Spartans’ game will be featured on the Big Ten Network.

Rensing said he doesn’t think televising the games has any effect on the team, but said it gives MSU valuable national recognition.

“It’s good exposure, win or lose,” Rensing said. “I think we’ve played some good soccer, even in those losses. I think that’s portrayed us in a good way. Hopefully we can get one on the network this Sunday.”

The MSU men’s soccer team’s game against Western Michigan turned out to be much closer than expected.

Although the Spartans won the game 2-0, MSU scored their goals in the third minute and in the 79th minute with the Broncos dictating most of the play throughout the game.

MSU head coach Damon Rensing credited Western Michigan’s scouting for keeping the game close.

And the key behind the good scouting report came from former Spartan Ben Pirmann, who was a senior last season and now is an assistant coach at Western Michigan.

“We knew they would be prepared for us, because Ben is the assistant coach and he knows all our players,” Rensing said. “It all came together for them.”

Pirmann was a three-year starter for the Spartans at the outside midfield position and recorded one goal and 13 assists in his career at MSU.

“You could tell all the players knew our weak points and our strong points,” junior defender Colin Givens said. “They came out well prepared and gave us a good challenge.”

The Spartans will look for their first conference victory at the road against Wisconsin on Sunday. The game will be aired live on the Big Ten Network, with kickoff at 4 p.m.

Tom Saxton has had this weekend circled on his calendar for a long time.

Sure, the MSU women’s soccer coach and his No. 20 Spartans opened Big Ten play with a 3-2 overtime win against perennial powerhouse Penn State, but this weekend’s road trips to Indiana and No. 12 Purdue will prove to be the toughest test of the season.

“I feel a little bit better about it, having a win under our belt, but honestly, this is a place where historically nobody in the Big Ten does well, going into Indiana and Purdue,” Saxton said. “If we can get any result out of the weekend I think we’ll be in really good position for the stretch run, but it will be tough. We have our hands full.”

The Spartans (7-0-2, 1-0-0) face the Hoosiers at 7:30 p.m. Friday, before traveling to West Lafayette to play the Boilermakers at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Indiana (8-3-0, 0-2-0) has four players with three goals or more, with Orianica Velasquez Herrera leading the way with four. The Hoosiers have dropped their first two conference matches to Northwestern and Wisconsin — both on the road — but are still highly regarded as a tough team.

Purdue (6-2-2, 1-0-1) is led by Jessica Okoroafo, who has six goals, along with three other players with four.

Even with an important program win like the Spartans had against the Nittany Lions, senior defender Megan Brown said the team realizes they have to prepare for a tough weekend.

“We realize that it’s time to go back to work,” Brown said. “While the win was really exciting, we know every Big Ten game is going to be a battle and we’re preparing this week for two very good teams and playing on the road is never easy and it hasn’t been great for us. We’re just going to prove that we can go in and play in hard environments and we’re not taking it lightly.”

No. 10 MSU women’s soccer head coach Tom Saxton said Tuesday’s practice was full of “devastated” players and coaches, as they dealt with the loss of senior midfielder Lauren Sinacola because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee, an injury that not only ended her season, but also her career.

“She was here (Tuesday) and she’s hurting both physical and mentally right now, but we kind of needed to kind of get everything out in the air,” Saxton said. “It was a tough day. She’s much loved, of course, by the players and the coaching staff.”

Sinacola’s torn ACL is the second such injury the Spartans have dealt with this year, along with fellow senior midfielder Kate Rehor, who tore her ACL earlier this season.

“It’s hard because she is such a big part of our team, she is such a great person and one of our leaders, so it hurts to have that injury and to see her go through that,” senior defender Megan Brown said of Sinacola. “… But she’s strong and we’re strong, and we’re just going to try to make the best of the situation. We’re expecting people to step up and work through it.”

Of course, as both Saxton and players know, there is no one player who can replace Sinacola — without question one of the best players in program history. Saxton said he plans on replacing her by committee, but already has a couple ideas.

The first is to move freshman forward Olivia Stander to an outside-mid position, similar to how the Spartans have been using junior forward Cara Freeman. Because of Stander’s solid play Sunday against Penn State, Saxon said he’s certain the move will help MSU’s offensive attack, but “whether she can defend in the midfield can be the question.”

He’s also looking at sophomore Mikki Dennis, sophomore Megan Pines and junior Kelsey Tait to play by committee, as well, noting all three have shown potential.

“They’ve all three had highs and lows, and one day they’ve been a good choice for us and then the other day they’ve been off,” Saxton said. “We need more consistency out of them so we can kind of get a rotation. I feel really good about (freshman Jordan) Mueller, Freeman and (sophomore Hannah) Peterson — they’re solid. It’s just what we do in that fourth spot.”

Sometimes a loss isn’t the worst thing to happen to a team.

The MSU men’s soccer team suffered its first defeat to San Diego last Sunday and, while the Spartans were disappointed with the loss, they said they were able to take some positives away from the game.

In the loss, junior goalkeeper Avery Steinlage’s NCAA-record consecutive shutout minutes streak came to an end at 1,318 minutes, 26 seconds.

While this wasn’t necessarily a good thing, Steinlage said he was relieved for the streak to end and to get some work back in the goal.

“It had been smooth sailing until Sunday,” Steinlage said. “We are excited to see how our team responds to the loss. We were missing two starters — Colin (Givens) and Nosa (Iyoha). Colin is a captain and Nosa is one of our better midfielders. Looking ahead I think when we get healthy, we will gain from the trip out to San Diego.”

Steinlage also said the loss helped the Spartans refocus on Sunday’s conference opener against No. 26 Ohio State.

MSU head coach Damon Rensing agreed and added that earning a win against Ohio State is huge — especially with the Spartans playing No. 5 Northwestern and No. 13 Indiana on the road this season.

“The Big Ten is very competitive and everyone is very athletic,” Rensing said. “Everyone knows each other. You aren’t going to get 10 or 12 scoring opportunities. Hopefully you get three to seven chances a game, and if you can make it on a couple of those, you are in good shape. Defense is a priority in the Big Ten and there’s a lot of good players in the conference.”

Sunday’s match might be the easiest conference game the Spartans have all season, and after talking to several of the players today, they want to get the conference season started on the right foot and take care of business.

If you don’t have plans on Sunday, head over to DeMartin Stadium to see what will surely be a great day of soccer, with the women’s team kicking off against Penn State at noon and the men following at 2:30 p.m.

Both the MSU men’s and women’s soccer teams hit a couple of road bumps this weekend, but neither team had much — if any — movement in the topdrawersoccer.com rankings.

The women’s soccer team (6-0-2), which beat Kent State, 2-0, on Friday before ending in a 1-1 tie with Eastern Michigan on Sunday, fell from No. 11 to No. 13 in the rankings, which are released each Monday.

The men’s soccer team (4-1-1) suffered its first loss of the season, a 2-0 loss to San Diego on Sunday, but still remained ranked No. 22 in the rankings.

Both teams begin Big Ten play Sunday at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field. The women play the first game at noon against Penn State, before the men face Ohio State at 2:30 p.m.

Kelsey Tait’s plan in starting in place of injured junior forward Cara Freeman was to be aggressive and attack more at the offensive end.

The junior midfielder did just that, scoring the No. 11 MSU women’s soccer team’s first goal in the Spartans’ 3-1 win against Detroit Mercy at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.

“I knew I needed to step it up because Cara was hurt,” Tait said of Freeman, who didn’t dress due to a knee injury. “I do have experience in the starting lineup, so I knew how to focus and get ready to start in there. My goal was to attack more today and I got a goal out of it and I’m happy with it.”

Starting is nothing new for Tait, who started 22 of MSU’s 24 games last season, but the beginning of the season has been a bit different for her. After starting the season opener, Tait had been replaced in the starting lineup by freshman midfielder Jordan Mueller in the previous four games.

Tait admits she’s disappointed in losing her starting spot, but does know how competitive the midfield is. MSU head coach Tom Saxton said Mueller has some qualities, such as great stamina, that Tait lacks, but praised Tait’s soccer IQ and play in the air.

“Kelsey’s such a hard worker and such a positive influence on the program,” Saxton said. “It’s nice to see her get rewarded with a goal because she definitely gives it her all every time.”

Stander scores first goal

The Spartans’ win against the Titans marked program record being broken, but it also held an important moment for Olivia Stander.

The freshman forward scored her first goal as a Spartan at the 73:35 minute mark.

“I thought it was going to happen earlier in the season. I had a lot of chances.” Stander said. “It feels like a weight off my shoulders.”

Stander won 2009 Michigan High School Female Athlete of the Year, awarded by the Detroit Athletic Club, and played numerous sports throughout her youth. But soccer was always at the forefront.

“I started getting recruited at a young age,” Stander said. “In the end, I always knew I was going to play soccer.”

She said the team was proud of her first goal and she was congratulated many times after the game. In a game that consisted of a number of Titans fouls, the freshman said she wasn’t intimidated by the physical team.

“You just cant back down,” she said.

On the injury front

It was good news for Tait that she got the start, but as every player will tell you, no one wants to get the chance to play at the expense of another. Saxton said Freeman will see Dr. Jeff Kovan on Wednesday for further evaluation on her knee. Saxton said Freeman hasn’t been able to run during the last few days.

Freeman is just the beginning of the worries. Sophomore forward Laura Heyboer has a cold/flu congestion, and senior forward Lauren Hill was kicked in the spleen during Tuesday’s game, but managed to score afterward. With a tough weekend coming up against Eastern Michigan and Kent State, Saxton said it will be key to get at least some of those weapons back to full health.

“I am hoping we get some of our attacking personalities back at full go,” he said. “Now we’re starting to get thinner and thinner in terms of the people who can make plays for us.”