Michigan State and Michigan played a tough defensive match down to the wire at Demartin Stadium where they would end up tying 1-1.
DeMartin Stadium was filled to the brim with fans and athletes alike on the night of Tuesday, October 13 as the Michigan State Spartans took on the Michigan Wolverines in a rivalry match for men’s soccer. The atmosphere was rocking, the crowd was on their feet and the two teams played an extremely physical game. It was a defensive game where each team had plenty of possessions in the other's territory but failed to capitalize on many opportunities. Both defenses played stout games as each team scored a goal late in the second half to lead to a 1-1 tie in the Battle for the Big Bear trophy.
Both teams played a very evenly matched game even if the Spartans were better on paper coming into the game. Their game play and statistics were darn near identical. Michigan State had 12 shots, four of them on goal, two saves, 13 fouls and eight corner kicks. Michigan had 11 shots, three of them on goal, four saves, 14 fouls and one corner kick. Nearly identical lines for both teams who played a heck of an effort out there. Throughout the first half Michigan had multiple opportunities down by MSU’s goal where they had throw ins near the goal but both times were poor throws by Michigan and ended up going the other way. MSU on the other hand got a couple of close shot attempts at Michigan but could not get past Michigan’s quick defense.
It was not until late in the second half when Leo Conneh broke through the defense for Michigan State and scored the first goal of the game on a breakaway. His goal had the crowd going as Michigan State looked to control the rest of the game from that moment. With around five minutes left in the game, Michigan would get an opportunity with a penalty kick to tie the game. Michael Ramirez made goalie Jake Grekowicz think he was going left of the net and put it in a wide open spot on the right side of the net for an easy goal. The game would end up in a tie as that penalty kick would be the deciding factor in the game. If not for that, Michigan State’s defense was playing extremely well the entire game for them to come away with the victory.
It was a tough matchup as neither team came away feeling like they should have. MSU should have outmatched Michigan and gotten an easy win. The Wolverines went into East Lansing with an upset on their mind and had a great chance to pull it off. Both teams missed opportunities and created others for the opposing team to keep it a tie ball game.
