Michigan State men’s soccer defeated by No. 4 Notre Dame

The Michigan State men’s soccer team opened its 2022 season recently with two home games, one against Army and one versus No. 4 Notre Dame.

After taking the 2-1 win in Friday’s (Aug. 26) season-opening matchup against Army, MSU did not do as well on Monday (Aug. 29) against the highly-ranked Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame scored three goals within the first 55 minutes. That was all that was necessary, as the Irish defeated the Spartans by a final score of 3-2.

Michigan State graduate midfielder Jack Beck scored on a penalty kick at the 75th minute, cutting the deficit to 3-1. Nearly 10 minutes later, junior Vedad Kovac brought the Spartans to within one goal.

Unfortunately, MSU’s rally fell short, and Michigan State’s record falls to 1-1 in the early part of the season. Notre Dame, meanwhile, improves to 1-1.

Notre Dame goalkeeper Bryan Dowd was stellar all night.

“I didn’t like the first 20 minutes of the game, but we started to settle in and play at the end and hit the post in the first half,” MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. “We came out in the second half and started really well, hit the crossbar. I was disappointed with that third goal and all of theirs came off re-starts. But you really have to applaud the guys. We’re a deep team and played a lot of different guys. I thought our response was great and we didn’t give up, but we’ve got to continue working.”

The Michigan State men’s soccer team will host Western Michigan on Thursday (Sept. 1) at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on BTN+. The game follows the MSU women’s team, which hosts Dartmouth at 5 p.m. Eastern on BTN+. Michigan State’s women’s team is 3-0-1 on the season.