Michigan State women fall to Santa Clara in NCAA first round

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - For 90 minutes the Michigan State women’s soccer team played the fourth-seeded Santa Clara Broncos even. Despite being heavily outshot, the Spartans were able to force overtime, but a goal by the Broncos’ Anessa Patton 1:08 into the extra session gave SCU a 1-0 win on Friday night in the fi rst round of the NCAA Championship. MSU, which made the NCAA Championship in consecutive seasons for the fi rst time in program history, ends the season 11-5-4.

Th e Broncos (14-6-1) were able to hold the Spartans shotless in the fi rst half, but MSU goalkeeper Jill Flietstra made three saves to keep the game even. Senior Lauren Hill had the Spartans’ best scoring chance of the game off a long through ball but the SCU defense recovered in time to keep her from getting a shot off .

Flietstra came up big again in the second half for MSU, making six more stops to send the game into overtime.

Patton’s overtime goal came at the 91:08 mark off a through ball from Jenny LaPointe.

The Broncos will face either USC or Oklahoma State in the second round of the tournament on Sunday.
MSU’s 11 wins in 2009 marked the eighth time in the last 10 seasons it has won at least 10 games.