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  No. 7 Field Hockey Travels to California
 
Spartans compete in first road games of the season
 
 
Senior Sabine van den Assem scored two goals for the Spartans this past weekend.
 
Senior Sabine van den Assem scored two goals for the Spartans this past weekend.
 
 

Sept. 2, 2010

EAST LANSING, Mich. -

Listen to Spartan Sports Podcasts:
Rolf van de Kerkhof | Molly Cassidy | Jantine Steinmetz

The seventh-ranked Michigan State field hockey team will travel to the west coast this weekend to face three California teams. The Spartans (2-0), who won the Champions Invitational Tournament this weekend by defeating No. 10 Duke 1-0, will take on California, Pacific, and Stanford on their trip.

The Green and White look to continue their success from the Tournament as they compete in their first road games of the season. Along with beating Duke, the Spartans downed Central Michigan, 4-2, in their season opener. Big Ten Freshman and Defensive Player of the Week, Molly Cassidy, faced 10 shots against the Blue Devils and another three against the Chippawas. Senior Sabine van den Assem scored two goals for the Spartans against Central Michigan with the other two tallies coming from seniors Joelle van Ierland and Angela Pagura. Sophomore midfielder Kristen Henn recorded her second career goal when she drove in the game-winner against Duke.

"It's nice after a good weekend at home to see if we can duplicate our performance and further improve on the road," said head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof.

 

 

Cal will be MSU's first opponent, on Friday at 5 p.m ET. The Golden Bears dropped their first match of the season against Miami (Ohio), 4-3. Erin Magill, who was named Nor Pac West Defensive Player of the Week, led her team with five shots and tallied a defensive save against the Red Hawks. Also earning conference honors for the Golden Bears was Shannon Elmitt, who was named West Rookie of the Week.

Michigan State will then travel to Palo Alto, Calif. to face both Pacific (0-2) and No. 20 Stanford (1-0). The Spartans will be matched up against Pacific on Saturday at 4 p.m. who, like California, also lost to Miami in opening-weekend action.

The Tigers lost, 8-0, to the Red Hawks and dropped their season opener, 6-0, to conference rival Stanford. Miami's relentless offense got on the board early at the three minute mark and didn't lose momentum for the rest of the game.

In their second game of the season, the Tigers were outshot by Stanford, 14-2. Six different players scored for the Cardinals, (including NorPac Offensive Player of the Week Jaimee Erickson) in first-year head coach Tara Danielson's debut. Erickson led the Cardinal offense with one goal and one assist in their season-opener. MSU will play Stanford at 3 p.m. on Monday.