Women's Soccer Routs Loyola, 3-0 :: Freeman notches career-high four points as Spartans find three tallies in first 19 minutes

Oct. 25, 2007

CHICAGO - Freshman Cara Freeman scored a goal and handed out two assists to lead the Michigan State women's soccer team to a 3-0 win over Loyola Thursday night at Loyola Soccer Park on the north side of Chicago. Sophomore Lauren Hill and senior Maureen Pawlak also each found the back of the net for the Spartans.

Freeman opened the scoring at the 12:23 mark when she stripped the ball from a Loyola defender and beat two more defenders to the goal. Freeman then fired a shot from 12 yards out past Rambler goalkeeper Colleen Dougherty. The tally was Freeman's second of the year.

Hill, MSU's leading scorer, found her seventh goal of the season at 13:24. Freeman played a ball to Hill, who had slipped behind Dougherty. Hill netted the shot to give MSU a 2-0 lead.

Just five minutes later, Pawlak scored the Spartans' third goal in the first 19 minutes of play. Freeman once again started the play, finding Pawlak, who turned her defender around and fired a shot from 15 yards out. The try went inside the far post for Pawlak's sixth tally of the season.

"Basically, we were dangerous three times in the first half, and we finished every time," head coach Tom Saxton said. "We capitalalized on our opportunities and played well on offense."

Saxton also cited the Spartans' defenders on a job well done. Loyola, the 2006 Horizon League champion, had an offensive attack that featured Cynthia Morote-Ariza, who Saxton said "is very good and could be a star in the Big Ten." Morote-Ariza recorded six shots, including four on goal, but was kept from threatening the net by senior Erin Doan and freshman Samantha Cook.

Sophomore Lindsey Wrege played all 90 minutes in goal, stopping a career-high six shots en route to her second shutout of the season. She blanked another Horizon League team, Detroit, earlier this season.

The Spartans will host Illinois in a Senior Day affair on Sunday, Oct. 28 at noon at Old College Field. MSU's 10 seniors will be honored in a brief ceremony before the contest. The match will also be televised by Comcast Local.