EAST LANSING, Mich. – Sixth-ranked and top-seeded Michigan State women’s soccer went down by a goal less than five minutes into the game, but responded with a pair of goals from sophomore forward Jordyn Wickes to notch a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the eighth-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Big Ten Tournament at DeMartin Stadium on Sunday.
The Spartans advance to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals for only the fifth time in program history and the first since 2011. MSU advanced on penalty kicks by a 4-3 edge over sixth-seeded Iowa in the 2011 tournament to advance before falling in a 1-0 affair against second-seed Illinois.
Michigan State climbs to 15-1-3 overall in the 2022 season, tying the single-season program win record set by MSU’s inaugural team in 1986. The Green & White remain undefeated against Big Ten Conference opponents, improving upon their 9-0-1 regular season record with a quarterfinal win over cross-division rival Minnesota. The Golden Gophers conclude their season with an 8-8-3 ledger coupled with a 4-4-2 B1G regular season effort. Minnesota was undefeated in their last five contests before dropping Sunday’s game in East Lansing.
MSU built an 11-9 edge in total shot attempts and matched the Golden Gophers in shots on goal 3-3. Against one of the best set-piece teams in the Big Ten, Michigan State yielded only five Minnesota corner kicks and took seven of their own. Individually, Wickes led the way with a pair of goals on three total shots, while graduate midfielder Celia Gaynor, senior defender Ruby Diodati and junior midfielder Zivana Labovic each recorded one assist apiece.
Between the pipes, senior keeper Lauren Kozal played all 90 minutes of the game, yielding one Golden Gopher score and recording three saves in the contest. Kozal set a new program record for single-season goalkeeper wins with 15, breaking a tie with 1986 netminder Renee Richert to assume the top spot on the leaderboard. For Minnesota, Megan Plaschko allowed two goals and booked a pair of saves in the losing decision.
The Golden Gophers came out of the…
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