MSU lost 5-1 to Stanford in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament in Palo Alto, Calif.
MSU lost 5-1 to Stanford in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament in Palo Alto, Calif.
The end of the road has arrived for Michigan State women’s soccer.
Stanford, with its top-ranked offense in the nation, blitzed Michigan State early and often to take a commanding lead and cruised to a 5-1 victory in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday night.
Michigan State (15-4-6) was denied its first-ever trip to the College Cup, soccer’s Final Four. The Spartans were in the national quarterfinals for the first time, after losing in the Sweet 16 the previous two seasons.
“We just kept fighting. They never quit, our seniors kept going, our younger players kept going. Overall, it’s going to be a really valuable experience for us as we continue to grow, and it’ll be good fuel for us in the offseason,” said Michigan State head coach Jeff Hosler, who previously won three Division II national championships at Grand Valley State.
“This group is hungry. I don’t think they’re gonna be very patient with this adjusted time off here in December.
“I think they’re going to be pretty eager to get back to it.”
Stanford (20-1-2) advances to the College Cup for the third consecutive season. It’s looking for its fourth national championship, and first since 2019.
Stanford, which averages more than four goals a year, jumped out to a 2-0 lead Friday night, on goals by Eleanor Klinger and Charlotte Kohler.
In the second half, Stanford extended its lead to 5-0, on two goals by Andrea Kitahata in a span of less than 4 minutes, and then a goal by Jasmine Akey.
“Stanford’s full of quality. They got quality all over the pitch. We knew it was going to take our very best effort,” Hosler said. “Details become really big moments in the postseason, and when you’re playing against a really talented side, those details that we missed in the first half got exposed. That put us behind the 8-ball.”
Junior midfielder Bella Najera got Michigan State on the board with a goal in the 76th minute, with junior midfielder Kennedy Bell tallying the primary assist.
Stanford, which has scored 21 goals through four NCAA Tournament games this season (while allowing four), will play Duke in the semifinals Dec. 5, while Florida State will play either Vanderbilt or TCU, who play Saturday. The championship is Dec. 8. The College Cup is in Kansas City, Mo.
All three Big Ten teams (including Washington and Ohio State) lost their matches Friday, as the conference’s drought without a women’s soccer title will reach 10 years (Penn State, 2015).
For Michigan State, the loss was tough to dissect ― but not the season as a whole.
“I’m super proud of the growth this team showed. We had so much experience from last year’s team graduate, move on,” Hosler said. “To bring this group together, the growth they showed … every month, we were better, result-wise, performance-wise, August to September to October, here in to late November.
“This group took another big step for us.
“We did a lot of things really well.”
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
