No. 16 Spartan Men’s Soccer Suffers First Loss of the Season to Ohio State

EAST LANSING, Mich.  — No. 16 Michigan State men’s soccer had its 14-game unbeaten streak come to a halt with a 3-2 loss to Ohio State at DeMartin Stadium on Educator Appreciation Day on Tuesday night.

For the second time in three games, Spartans found themselves in a 2-0 first-half deficit. Unlike the game against Maryland on Oct. 15, the Buckeyes were able to find the game-winning goal. In the 87th minute, Luciano Pechota score his second goal of the game to give OSU the win.

With the loss, Michigan State stands 7-1-6 overall and 3-1-4 in the Big Ten standings. The Spartans ended the conference season with 13 points. Ohio State improves to 4-6-5 overall and 2-4-1 in league play.

“It was the tail of two halves. I have to give credit to Ohio State, they played for their season,” MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. “We had a lot to play for, but maybe we could have played a little more tentatively. Overall, Ohio State had a really good game. Friday night took a little bit of a toll on us but we were awesome in the second half. We came out and dominated for 42 minutes. We were going for a championship here. I am confident that we won’t give up that third goal if this is just a regular season game. We pushed everything forward because a loss or tie didn’t matter, we were playing for a win in the end. We got a little exposed and tired. That happens but I am so proud of the way that the guys fought and played. We have a lot more to come.” 

Perchota started the scoring in the 25th minute with a goal off his own blocked shot. The Buckeyes made it a 2-0 game in the 35th minute, when Anthony Samways found Marko Borkovic for his second goal of the year. OSU out-shot MSU 10-3 in the first half.

The Spartans came to life in the second half, maintaining possession for much of the final 45 minutes. Michigan State got on the board in the 48th minute after sophomore forward Jonathan Stout was fouled in the box. Junior midfielder Sean Kerrigan, who has become the Spartans’ penalty kick specialist, stepped in to earn his fifth penalty kick of the season. Overall, he leads the team with six goals for 12 points.

Michigan State tied the score at 2-2 in the 74th minute with Stout’s fifth goal on the year. He collected his own shot after a save by Max Trejo and drained it to the bottom right corner.

MSU had several chances to take the lead with great looks from seniors Greyson Mercer and Jack Zugay. In the final minute of the…