Nov. 12, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -
Sixth-seeded Michigan State got a goal by Tim Granaderos just over six minutes into the second half and the Spartans made the advantage hold up in eliminating third-seeded and 16th-ranked Northwestern from the 2009 Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament Thursday morning at Armstrong Stadium.
MSU (11-6-2) advances on to face Indiana, the No. 4 seed and tournament host, in Friday's semifinal round. The Hoosiers posted a 2-0 win over Wisconsin, the No. 5 seed. Meanwhile, the Wildcats (10-4-4) will await an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament when the pairings are announced Monday afternoon.
The teams battled through an evenly played scoreless first half with Michigan State recorded seven shots to five for Northwestern. Misha Rosenthal came up with three saves before the intermission for the 'Cats.
The Spartans got the game-winner at the 51:17 mark when Granaderos took a feed from Stephen Lucianke and found the lower left corner of the net.
NU would later get shots on goal by Kevin Valenta and Eamon O'Neill, but Avery Steinlage came up with the save on both occasions. Steinlage, who leads the Big Ten in goals-against average and is second in save percentage, didn't appear in last Saturday's match against Northwestern, a 1-0 win in the Wildcats' favor.
Northwestern finished with a 14-11 edge in shots and a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks.