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The Michigan men’s soccer team’s rivalry match against Michigan State Tuesday night passed by with relatively little incident.
The Wolverines (6-3-5 overall, 1-3-4 Big Ten) drew 0-0 with the Spartans (5-6-3, 4-3-1) in a game where their defense gave it a fighting chance, but their offense failed to make the impact needed to secure a victory.
“I think we could have been more aggressive in the attacking half,” Michigan coach Chaka Daley said. “We could’ve just put ourselves in more dangerous positions…just being a little bit more positive in our mindset to go forward.”
It was a turgid night for the Wolverines. The Wolverines recorded just four shots on goal, all of which were saved by Michigan State goalkeeper Zac Kelly. They only earned one corner, and struggled to penetrate the box in general, being flagged offside just once.
Defensively, however, Michigan managed to hold down the fort, allowing just four shots on goal. Though the Spartans managed to earn their fair share of corners with six, those opportunities ultimately amounted to little. Sophomore goalkeeper Isaiah Goldson produced an imperious performance, saving all of the Spartans’ on-target shots. He made a particularly important stop i in the 89th minute, denying Michigan State defender Brandon Munson a one-on-one chance.
“He did a good job managing from the back,” Daley said. “He made two key saves, one early second half, one late in the second half, and did what we asked him to do. And his kicking was really good. His management was good. And I think he made some good saves that gave us an opportunity to win the game.”
With Goldson’s brick wall fortifying the defense, the game was the Wolverines’ for the taking. However, the offense was unable to take advantage.
Another area where Michigan faltered was discipline. It committed 14 fouls, in comparison to the Spartans’ nine. The Wolverines’ misplaced physicality scuppered not only their own rhythm and pressure, but invited unnecessary attacks from Michigan State, jeopardizing their position in the game.
In spite of its deficiencies, Michigan still took away some positives from its draw in East Lansing, mostly due to its resolute defensive showing. The Wolverines entered the match with the game plan of suffocating their opponents. Their objective was to deny the Spartans the space they needed to operate, and close down the field to prevent them from scoring. And they succeeded in that regard, as Michigan State’s offense sputtered.
“We just plan to try to keep the team compact and make it difficult to play, knowing that if we press the ball high, we speed them up,” Daley said. “That’s obviously the objective…So good job of staying compact and keeping the team nice and tight.”
But Michigan’s work to negate its opponents wasn’t quite enough, as its offense was unable to find a meaningful breakthrough, leaving East Lansing with a draw in which its defense put it in prime position to capture a victory.
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