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  Second Half Rally Comes Up Short For Men's Soccer against Michigan
 
The Wolverines outscore the Spartans in a 4-2 offensive battle.
 
 
Senior Craig Hearn assited on MSU's second goal in the Spartans' comeback effort against Michigan.
 
Senior Craig Hearn assited on MSU's second goal in the Spartans' comeback effort against Michigan.
 
 

Oct. 12, 2003

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich - The Michigan State University men's soccer team fell to the University of Michigan, 4-2, on Sunday (Oct. 12) at Old College Field. Michigan (9-4, 1-1) knocked the Spartans down to 7-3-2 on the season and 1-1-2 in the Big Ten Conference. With the win, the Wolverines scored one point in the race for the Pontiac Challenge Cup.

Michigan came out strong and took a 2-0 lead in the first half. UM's first goal came on a controversial penalty kick awarded when MSU senior goalkeeper Mike Robinson (Troy) was given a yellow card while attempting to clear the ball and colliding with a Wolverine attacker. Michigan's second goal in the 43rd minute gave the Wolverines a 2-0 halftime lead.

At the beginning of the second half, Michigan scored a third goal to take a 3-0 lead. However the resilient Spartans would not let the game get away from them. In the 47th minute, senior defenseman Kevin Wittig (Newtown, Pa.) blasted a ball into the net from far outside the box. Less than five minutes later Ryan McMahen (So., Munster, Ind.) capitalized on a pass from senior midfielder Craig Hearn (Farmington Hills), making the game 3-2.

Late Spartan attacks failed to knot the game. In the 77th minute the Wolverines scored their fourth goal of the game to take a 4-2 lead.

"Looking at the match up I thought it would be a one goal game," said MSU head coach Joe Baum. "These were two good teams today. There was more offense today than I thought. That comes from the fans though; with so many people here the players really were excited and elevated their games. Our team showed a lot of character today. Most teams would give up being down three goals but we kept fighting."

 

 

MSU's goalkeeper Robinson made ten saves against a strong Wolverine attack that fired 20 shots his direction.

The Spartans will have a week off before they host Penn State next Sunday (Oct. 19) at Old College Field at 2:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be the Spartans' fourth home game in their five game homestand. 

Game Summary
Scoring by Period      1	2	Total
UM	              2	2	4
MSU	              0	2	2




Shots by Period
UM	              8	12	20
MSU	              4	10	14




Scoring Summary
1. 34:48 UM Taylor (Penalty Kick) 2. 42:39 UM White (Cameron) 3. 45:58 UM Cameron (Bruh) 4. 47:01 MSU Wittig 5. 52:45 MSU McMahen (Hearn) 6. 76:29 UM Savitskie




Cautions and Ejections
YC-MSU #29 (34:48); YC-MSU #10 (46:17); YC-UM #4 (48:02); YC-MSU #9 (70:10); YC-MSU #23 (78:18); YC-MSU #22 (81:41)