MSU Women’s Soccer Advances in NCAA Tourney with Win vs. Milwaukee
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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Second-seeded Michigan State easily advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-1 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee at DeMartin Stadium on Friday night.
Leading 1-0 at halftime, The Spartans scored three second-half goals within a 14-minute span to open the lead to four. Milwaukee got on the board during the 77th minute, but it was far too late to make any serious comeback attempt.
Friday’s match was actually the second time these two teams have met this year. Michigan State crushed the Panthers, 9-0, during its fourth game of the season back on Aug. 24.
“I’m thrilled with the result,” said Spartan head coach Jeff Hosler after the game. “This is one of those games where you get that matchup, the way the first game went, it’s real easy for… only the bad can happen in a lot of ways. A 9-nil soccer result is wild in the first place.”
“I thought our group handled this week really professionally,” Hosler also said.
MSU will take on No. 7 seed Wake Forest next for the second round on Thursday, Nov. 20; time is TBA. The Demon Deacons took down South Carolina, 2-1, during their first-round matchup. Michigan State will get home-pitch advantage for that, as well. A potential third-round match would also be at DeMartin, too.
Game Recap
The first goal went to star forward Kennedy Bell, who deflected a Milwaukee pass and found nobody between her and the Panthers’ goalie. She converted during the 20th minute for her team-leading 11th goal of the season.
Bell had to exit the game just a few minutes later, though. She was holding her left shoulder as she was subbed off and did not return to the game. Hosler said that was precautionary and that Bell was available during the second half.
The ball seemed to be within UW-Milwaukee’s end the entire first half, but MSU wasn’t able to get anything else on the board besides Bell’s play through 45 minutes.
Michigan State’s second-half onslaught began during the 54th minute off a nice shot from the right foot of Kayla Briggs two short dribbles after a nice centering pass from Sofia Beerworth. It was Briggs’ seventh goal this season.
A little more than three minutes later, Emerson Sargeant got a 1-on-1 opportunity with the Panthers’ goalie after MSU pieced together several quick passes. It was her eighth goal this year, as assists went to Kaleigh McPherson and Sophia Piotrowski.
The fourth and final goal for the Spartans went unassisted to Adelle Francis. She had just subbed back into the game a little more than five minutes before her 68th-minute goal, which was her second of the season.
Milwaukee got its lone goal from Lola Wojcik, with an assist to Zoey Pagels.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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