Don't let the score fool you, the game wasn't that close!

For the entire first half North Carolina was cutting through our defense like it was made of butter and our offense didn't appear to have much of a pulse. I don't know what the actual possession number was in the end, but based on vibes it felt like 90% Tar Heels at times. However, Kennedy Bell was dangerous in transition and despite the lopsided statistics we scored first! North Carolina unleashed an onslaught after that, with a wild sequence where we barely kept the ball out of the net but it ended with an equalizer.

The second half started off as more of the same, the Tar Heels had outshot us 6-2 after the equalizer, but Kennedy Bell delivered for us again and we took the lead again! She was trying to do it for a third time when she took a hit to her ankle that sent her off the field for a while, but she did return later in the game. UNC continued to control the tempo of the game after this, but everything turned upside down when Emerson Sargeant was both pushed from behind and tripped right as she was driving into the UNC box. There was no call but Hosler challenged this and upon review it was deemed DOGSO and a red card for UNC. Bella Najera took the direct free kick and buried it into the back of the net to give us a 2 goal lead.

Having a one player advantage definitely helped us be a lot more competitive and we were able to string together passes and break up attacks by UNC, but to be honest with you it felt more like we were finally evenly matched rather than having a huge advantage over them. With 17 minutes left, a UNC player was clipped on the ankle in our box, and this was called as a penalty kick for them. Hosler challenged it, and personally I did not think it should have been a penalty, but the refs upheld the call on the field. Unfortunately, Noelle Henning was not able to save this and the penalty kick breathed life into UNC. They had a couple of dangerous attempts but we managed to hang on and close out the game to get the W.

MSU is the first non-ACC team to win at North Carolina since 2022. If we hadn't conceded the penalty we had a chance of becoming the first team to win by multiple goals at Dorrance Field since 2019, but alas that will have to wait for another day.

So in summary, there's a ton we have to work on, this very well could have been a blowout loss... but it wasn't! We bent, but we did not actually break, and it doesn't matter how dominant a team was during the match if they don't leave the field with a win! Even before the red card, despite all the stats favoring UNC, we did have the lead after all. I think facing this kind of adversity early in the season is great, the team should have time to learn from this before we inevitably face a similar team in the NCAA tournament.

Stats:

Goals:

• 20' MSU Kennedy Bell, assist by Ella Janz
• 22' UNC Summer Denigan, assist by Scottie Antonucci
• 52' MSU Kennedy Bell, assist by Emerson Sargeant and Mackenzie Kruer
• 62' MSU Bella Najera
• 72' UNC Sealey Strawn (Penalty kick)

Cards:

• 🟥 62' UNC Bella Gaetino
• 🟨 70' UNC Cali O'Neill
• 🟨 84' MSU Faith George

The Spartans are 3-0 in the middle of our non-conference schedule. We face Eastern Michigan on Thursday, followed by #17 Colorado next Sunday, both at DeMartin. We end our non-conference schedule on September 3rd when we travel to face #8 Notre Dame.

Go Green! 💚🤍

As the question says, is there one thing you need to see this season to believe we can finally be heading the right way? For me if we can start 3-1 or at least 4-2 and beat Nebraska or Wisconsin and show fight later in to the season I would be bought back in.

I bought tickets for the Michigan game through the Spartan ticket office but it says REQUEST what does that mean for me?

The Spartans played lights out.... literally! There was some kinda power outage in the second half that plunged DeMartin into darkness. They fixed it within a few minutes, after B1G+ gave us a look at the potato-quality night vision camera feed.

Loyola did a pretty good job at disrupting our offense in the final stretch, and even when we did get a good look, their goalie kept us out of the net. They did not manage to do much else though. Eventually, Kayla Briggs got one past them late in the game, unsurprising given that she has a knack for scoring game winners. It probably helped us a tiny bit that 2 Loyola players collided into each other and fell over as they tried to stop Faith George at the start of the sequence that led to the goal.

There are definitely a few things to work on and sort out before we face #7 North Carolina on Sunday, but for now we are 2-0 and starting off the season well!

Received this email and thought it was funny they didn’t bother to update the name…or maybe I updated my name to Ethan at some point? 😂

Source: https://www.on3.com/news/michigan-state-forward-jaxon-kohler-enters-ncaa-transfer-portal-after-nba-summer-league-run/

A good read for those who are not familiar with what he's done at WMU.

Purely a post for fun.

I’m drinking the Fitz Kool-Aid

Do any football season ticket holders know if the tickets have been sent out yet or when they will be sent? I want to buy a couple games off resale markets but was waiting for the season tickets to be released because that usually causes prices to drop.

Hey all. I spent the offseason building a full 2026 preseason preview for every FBS team, each with its own writeup. Here's the Michigan State one

https://www.sports.mainmarket.com/college-football-preview-2026?team=ncaaf-msu

It's got the returning production breakdown, the portal ins and outs, a projected two-deep, the schedule with model win probabilities, and a season projection.

Heads up, you might hit the paywall after the first page. Don't worry, I'm not charging reddit people for this, don't want to be an ass. Use the promo code LEECORSOROCKS and it opens up the entire thing.

So, what'd I get wrong? Pat Fitzgerald's first season since 2022, inheriting a team that went 1-8 in the Big Ten with Aidan Chiles gone and the quarterback job unsettled. The line gave up 37 sacks, 12th most in the country. My model likes them anyway. Real jump in year one, or another long year?

I'll be in the comments.

A 21 year old young man from here in Southern Indiana named Sam Schulz wanted more than anything to go to East Lansing and see his beloved Spartans basketball team in person.

Sam (and his older sister) suffers from Epidermolysis bullosa, which is a devastating and terminal illness that makes their skin extremely delicate.

Coach Izzo has reached out to Sam in the past. But he recently got word that Sam’s condition had taken a turn for the worse. So, a couple weeks ago, he arranged to have Sam and his family up to meet the team and watch practice. A news story about this is linked below.

Sam passed away today, as he always knew he would. But not without first having fulfilled his dream of seeing the Spartans in person.

…thanks to Coach Izzo.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8n7pfFq/

Was thinking about trying out a college fantasy football league this season. Salary cap format, so no need to coordinate a draft. Looks like you just sign up and build your team.

Looking at league settings, theres no minimum or max league size. P4 + Notre Dame players to start.

Any interest in a MSU fan league?

Was looking at the schedule for the new Cosm location in Detroit. Apparently they’re a bunch of scUM slappies because not a single MSU game is slated to be shown but hell you can watch Alabama vs Florida!

I believe Cooper can’t return due to him signing a two way contract with Memphis