Michigan State Defeats Minnesota Gopher’s on the Road
East Lansing, Mich. – The University of Minnesota soccer team saw their 1-0 second half lead slip away this afternoon (Oct. 25), as host Michigan State answered with two goals in less than a 90 second span for the 2-1 win.
After a scoreless first half, Minnesota (10-5-3, 3-3-2) was first to break through in the second when Tamara Strahota (Burnsville, Minn.) scored for the second straight game. Strahota was carrying the ball up the field wide, and as she converged on the goal she had the defender beat.
Teammate Shari Eckstrom (Champain Park, Minn.) was also streaking on goal, attacking the center of the net. Seeing her, Strahota fired off a crossing pass, but before it could get to Eckstrom a Michigan State defender got in the way and deflected the pass into the goal. The deflected shot for a goal gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead at the 58:54 mark.
Michigan State (9-3-4, 2-3-2) evened the score not long after when their Laura Heyboer created an opportunity deep in the Minnesota zone. Heyboer fired off a point blank shot that was stopped by the Gophers’ Cat Parkhill (Apple Valley, Minn.). The deflection was left rolling along the goalline and before Parkhill could recover for the second save, the Spartan’s Megan Pines tapped it in.
After tying the game at 71:10, Michigan State took the lead at 72:38, when Hayboer again took center stage. She managed to split the Gopher defense and dribble around the last defender before firing off the shot for the game winner.
Minnesota will now return home for their final two matches beginning with Northwestern on Oct. 30 at 7:00 p.m.
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