QUICK STRIKES FOR THE WEEK AHEAD ...
• Michigan State kicks off the home portion of the 2024 season this weekend when it hosts Vermont (Friday) and Ohio (Sunday). The two visiting squads will play a neutral-site game on Saturday (1 pm) at Ralph Young Field.
• Live statistics and webstream links can be found for both games on the field hockey schedule page at MSUSpartans.com.
• Vermont dropped both of its season-opening games, at Lafayette (3-1) and at Rutgers (5-0). Marie Dijkstra had the lone Catamount goal on the weekend, and UVM played two keepers - Ila Gunner made eight saves and allowed four goals in 90 minutes, and Merle Vaandrager let in three scores in 30 minutes of action, making seven stops. Kate Pfeifer enters her 11th season as head coach of the Vermont field hockey program, and owns a 66-110 record in that time.
• Ali Johnstone is in her seventh season as the head coach at Ohio (29-62-0). The Bobcats have begun the 2024 season with an 0-2 mark, dropping games to Stanford (4-1) and UAlbany (4-0). Both Macy Lotze and Ash Stephenson have each gotten a game in the goalcage for the Bobcats, each making five saves in their start. Natalie LaFleur scored the lone Ohio goal against Stanford last Friday.
• MSU opened the year with a split in games on the west coast. The Spartans outlasted UC-Davis in Friday's opener (4-3) before dropping a heartbreaker at Cal in overtime (2-1).
• Maddie Lawlor returned to the lineup after missing the entire 2023 season, and scored a goal in each of MSU's first two games. The two goals is her career best in a season. Her Friday goal against the Aggies stood as the game-winner.
• Bianca Pizano came off the bench to score a pair of goals for MSU in Friday's game. Pizano scored two goals for the Spartans as a freshman in 2023.
• Senior Ellie Rutherford earned a pair of assists last Friday at Cal. Rutherford is MSU's top returning scorer from a year ago (4-1-9).
• Freshman Lilian Knorr also had a two-assist effort on Friday, picking up two helpers in her first collegiate game.
• Sophomore Lyra Gavino played the entirety of both games in California. She earned her first win of the year on Friday without making a save, and then put up a career-best seven saves in the tough OT loss at Cal.
• Jillian Bonczewski gave MSU its fourth (insurance) goal in Friday's game at UC-Davis, putting the Spartans back up by a pair after the Aggies had cut MSU's 3-0 lead down to 3-2. It was her first goal since the 2022 season.
• Freshman back Caro Schäfer wasted little time in earning her first collegiate point, earning the assist on Lawlor's opening goal in the game at UC-Davis.
• Seniors Ellie Wheatley and Emma O'Neill picked up the first points of their senior seasons on Lawlor's goal at Cal. The trio converted on a corner play. O'Neill is MSU's second-leading returning scorer (3-1-7 in 2023), while Wheatley had a pair of assists a year ago.
• Michigan State goes back on the road for a contest at Bellarmine next Friday (12 noon) before hosting Colgate on Sunday afternoon at Ralph Young Field (11 am).
Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.
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