With all due respect to Hoosier Hysteria, there’s a much more important event going on Friday night. At Bill Armstrong Stadium, Indiana hosts Michigan State in a battle of two top teams in the Big Ten. And yes, it’s not a glorified practice/scrimmage. It’s Indiana’s penultimate Big Ten home match of the year.
Scouting out the Spartans
Michigan State is no slouch in this competitive Big Ten. The Spartans only lost two matches to Ohio State last year — once in late October in the final Big Ten match of its season and again 10 days later in the Big Ten Quarterfinal. Despite finishing 7-2-7, the Spartans were undefeated until late October.
Michigan State finished with 13 points last year in conference play with a 3-1-4 record and can exceed that point total with a win Friday, as the Spartans will enter the night 4-2 in conference play, two points behind Indiana.
Michigan State returns a ton of production from last season — 91% of the goal-scoring, to be exact, and 88% of the total offensive production (goals plus assists). The continuity of the squad plus a returning goalkeeper in Zac Kelly — the older brother of Blake, the freshman goalie Indiana faced in the home opener against Notre Dame — makes the Spartans a team the Hoosiers cannot take lightly.
Dynamic duo up top
Michigan State’s top two goal scorers from last year — Sean Kerrigan and Jonathan Stout — are both back and are on track to duplicate their 2023 scoring numbers. Kerrigan, who scored the late go-ahead goal from the penalty spot against Indiana last year in East Lansing, has three goals and 11 shots on goal in 2024 after netting six a year ago. Stout found the back of the net five times last season and has a team-high four goals in 10 games played (four starts).
Kerrigan bagged a brace in Michigan State’s 2-0 home win against No. 25 Wisconsin last Friday in the team’s most recent match, while Stout scored all four of his goals in a five-match span — the only goals Michigan State recorded in those games.
Safe to say they can both get hot at any time, and it’s never easy to try and have to lock up two goal-scorers in one night. However, if there’s a team that can do it, it’s the Hoosiers, who haven’t conceded a goal in over 230 minutes of game time.
Similar early-season struggles
Both teams are getting hot at the right time.
Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley said last week that he felt his team caught Penn State at the wrong time considering the Nittany Lions entered last Friday’s match on a five-match unbeaten streak. The same could be said for Michigan State. After collecting just one win in its first six matches (all non-conference opponents), the Spartans have won four of their past six (all conference opponents). It’s worth noting that Michigan State plays all 10 of its conference opponents in a row and with just four left, so far, so good for the Green and White.
In contrast, Indiana won just one of its first five matches, has rattled off three straight wins, and is unbeaten in its past six. With a win, Michigan State would reach five conference wins for the first time since 2017.
The Spartans are currently No. 73 in NCAA’s RPI, the second-lowest in the conference, only ahead of Rutgers. The Hoosiers have climbed up to No. 23, for reference, so there’s a lot more to gain for the visitors than there is for the hosts.
Kick-off is at 7 p.m. and those opting not to watch the skills challenges at Assembly Hall can tune into Big Ten Plus for the big soccer match.
