This afternoon the Bearcats (1-0) welcomed in Big ten foe Michigan State (1-0) to Gettler Stadium for an afternoon showdown. The Bearcats come into this one 12-8 all time in the series between both programs that dates back to 1980. The Bearcats haven’t faced off with the Spartans since September 7th, 2006, where the Bearcats fell 2-0.
The Bearcats will look to start the season 2-0 after a big 2-0 victory over Northern Kentucky in the Riverboat Rivalry, where they were led by Ashley Barron on defense, along with Brandi Thomsen and Vyviene Spaulding on offense who each recorded a goal for the Bearcats.
Starting 11 for the Bearcats include Vanessa Dinardo, Vyviene Spaulding, Ashley Barron, Brandi Thomsen, Lauren Bastain, Virginia Goins, Maddie Thiss, Taylor Nuncio, Kendall Battle, Emma Schmelzer, Anna Rexford.
Starting 11 for the Spartans include, Lauren Debeau, Raegan Cox, Camryn Evans, Jordyn Wicks, Celia Gaynor, Ruby Diodati, Justina Gaynor, Zivana Labovic, Samantha White, Abby Gardiner, Lauren Kozal.
The Spartans were dominating the time of possession early, after an hour delay to start this game, the rain starting to come back down around the 18th minute mark, in a 0-0 showdown the Bearcats and Spartans would find themselves in a lightning delay in the 24th minute as a storm moved in the area of Gettler Stadium. The delay would last roughly for an hour and 20 minutes before the storm passed and we would resume play here at Gettler Stadium we were tied at 0-0 entering the 24th minute where the Bearcats and Spartans would look to finish this one out before the next round of stroms rolled in.
The Bearcats would come out aggressive after the lightning delay, but they couldn’t find anything going offensively in the front third. The Spartans saw a great corner kick assist that would hit the back corner of the net that would have given the Spartans a 1-0 lead, but the ball went just out of play before the assist and did not count, so the Bearcats and Spartans would eventually take a 0-0 tie to the break.
The Bearcats would bring the pressure to start the second half, as Megan Smith and Vanessa DiNardo would look to turn up the heat in the front third where the Bearcats would look to get some momentum going, but weren’t able to capitalize on those opportunities. Michigan State would look to do the same, but Anna Rexford made two great saves in the 59th minute to keep this one tied at 0-0 down the stretch. The Bearcats would see their opportunity late in the match, as Michigan State’s Raegan Cox would pick up her 2nd yellow card of the day, meaning the Spartans would play down a player for the last 5 minutes as the Bearcats would look to sneak a goal in during the final 5 minutes where they were looking to improve to 2-0 on the season.
The Bearcats would take a 0-0 draw here at Gettler Stadium, as they weren’t able to find the net here today, but take a 0-0 draw vs a very great, physical Michigan State team as the defenses stood tall for both teams and really played a factor here in this match. The Bearcats would record back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2019 vs Temple on September 26th, in a 2-0 victory over Temple, and 1-0 overtime victory over UConn on September 29th, 2019. The Bearcats faced all kinds of adversity here today between the weather delays, as well as playing a very tough physical Michigan State team that retained a lot of experience and veteran leadership from a season ago.
Bearcats head coach Neil Stafford talked postgame after the Bearcats 0-0 draw with Michigan State about his team’s performance today.
“I think the team demonstrated the resiliency today, a few freshmen really stepped up today in a big way. Between all the weather delays, the stop and starts and everything we endured today, I am really proud of the mentality the players had to deal with today. Anna Rexford was outstanding; she continues to get better each game. She is confident, the way we were resilient on the back line was outstanding.”
The Bearcats are now 1-0-1 on the season, where they will travel to Bowling Green, Ohio to take on Bowling Green this Thursday at 5 pm, where they will look to improve to 2-0-1 on the season after two very dominant performances to start the season.
