Women’s Soccer Returns to NCAA Championship

 Spartans earn NCAA bid for second consecutive season.  EAST LANSING, Mich. -The NCAA announced Monday night that the Spartans will take on the Santa

 

Spartans earn NCAA bid for second consecutive season.  EAST LANSING, Mich. -The NCAA announced Monday night that the Spartans will take on the Santa Clara University Broncos on Friday (Nov. 13) at 6 p.m. ET in Santa Clara, Calif. For MSU, it is the fourth NCAA bid in program history (2002, ‘05, ‘08 and ‘09).

Coach Saxton Has Lead the Lady Spartans to Back to Back NCAA Tournaments for the First Time. Photo Courtesy of the MSU SID

“It’s very exciting and more than anything else, I am happy for our players,” said Spartan head coach Tom Saxton. “We’ve gone through a lot this year and really pulled together down the stretch and got a few big victories. I’m really happy for our team.”

For the eighth time in the last 10 seasons, Michigan State won at least 10 games as it went 11-4-4 overall this year. Th e Spartans recorded a pair of signature wins this season over Big Ten Champion Penn State (3-2, OT) and Big Ten runner-up Ohio State (1-0).

Th e 13-6-1 Broncos fi nished behind No. 2 Portland in the West Coast Conference this season, going 5-2 in league play. Santa Clara, seeded fourth in the region, was ranked No. 14 in the most recent NSCAA/adidas Coaches Poll.

Th e winner of the MSU/Santa Clara match up will then take on either Southern California or Oklahoma State on Sunday (Nov. 15) at 7 p.m.

Stanford (20-0-0) is the No. 1 seed in the region.

Last season MSU defeated UW-Milwaukee, 2-1, in the fi rst round of the NCAA Tournament and then fell to the eventual tournament runner-up Notre Dame (1-0) in the second round in South Bend, Ind.

“The key to taking the next step as a program is to start to get some consistency,” said Saxton. “Th is is our fourth trip in less than 10 years and when you can string back-to-back years together that is a sign that we’re establishing ourselves at a higher level.”

Th e Spartans were one of five Big Ten teams to receive a bid to the tournament, joining Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State.