2018 Michigan State Spartans men's soccer team

The 2018 Michigan State Spartans men's soccer team represented Michigan State University during the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The program was coached by 10th year head coach, Damon Rensing. It was the 63rd season the university fielded a men's varsity soccer team, and their 28th season in the Big Ten Conference.

2018 Michigan State Spartans men's soccer
NCAA Tournament, College Cup
Conference	Big Ten Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 4
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 4
Record	14–5–4 (4–2–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Damon Rensing (10th season)
Assistant coaches	Cale Wassermann (5th season) Ben Pirmann (8th season) Micah Collins (1st season)
Home stadium	DeMartin Stadium
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Big Ten Conference men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 3 Indiana ‡	8	–	0	–	0			20	–	3	–	1
Wisconsin	6	–	2	–	0			10	–	6	–	2
No. 4 Michigan State +	4	–	2	–	2			14	–	5	–	4
No. 24 Michigan +	4	–	2	–	2			12	–	5	–	4
No. 1 Maryland +	4	–	4	–	0			12	–	6	–	4
Penn State	3	–	3	–	2			6	–	9	–	2
Rutgers	2	–	6	–	0			4	–	13	–	1
Northwestern	0	–	5	–	3			6	–	9	–	5
Ohio State	0	–	7	–	1			1	–	15	–	2
$ – Conference champion As of December 11, 2018 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Poll Source:The Big Ten Conference

The season was highlighted by Michigan State reaching the College Cup (final four) of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, a feat they had not accomplished since 1968. There, making their first appearance in half a century, they lost to eventual national-runners up, Akron, 5–1.

Three players from this team were drafted in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft: DeJuan Jones, Ryan Sierakowski, and Jimmy Hague.

Background

Roster

The following players were part of the 2018 Michigan State men's soccer team.^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  USA Jimmy Hague 2 MF  USA Jack Beck 3 DF  DEN Patrick Nielsen 4 DF  USA Nick Woodruff 5 MF  USA Michael Pimlott 6 FW  USA DeJuan Jones 7 FW  USA Hunter Barone 8 MF  USA Alex Shterenberg 9 FW  KEN Farai Mutatu 10 MF  USA Giuseppe Barone 11 FW  USA Ryan Sierakowski 13 FW  USA Robbie Cort 14 DF  NGA Olu Ogunwale

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  USA Colton Stanley 16 DF  USA Connor Corrigan 17 DF  KEN Michael Wetungu 18 MF  USA Michael Miller 20 MF  USA Cody Sweatte 21 FW  SUI Julian Ajroja 25 MF  USA 26 MF  USA 27 FW  USA Connor Wineman 28 MF  USA 34 MF  USA 35 MF  USA 36 MF  USA

Player movement

Schedule

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Team events	Opponent events	Site City, State
Preseason
August 10* 2:00 pm	No. 7	Spring Arbor	W 2–0				DeMartin Stadium East Lansing, MI
August 13* 1:00 pm	No. 7	No. 14 Western Michigan	T 1–1				DeMartin Stadium East Lansing, MI
August 17* 6:00 pm	No. 7	vs. Xavier	T 0–0				Hefner Soccer Complex Fort Wayne, IN
Non-conference regular season
August 24* 7:00 pm	No. 7	South Florida	W 1–0	1–0–0	Mutatu 87'	Flangan  43' Ycaza  71'	DeMartin Stadium (2,048) East Lansing, MI
August 26* 1:00 pm	No. 7	Tulsa	T 0–0 2OT	1–0–1	G. Barone  84' Pimlott  110'	Partain  79' Vargas  96' Gerteisen  106'	DeMartin Stadium (652) East Lansing, MI
August 31* 3:00 pm	No. 5	Canisius	W 3–2	2–0–1	Jones 7' Woodruff 40' H. Barone 59' Freitag  90'	Cavazzoli  40' Walsh  42' Tamburini 76' Preci 80'	DeMartin Stadium (460) East Lansing, MI
September 3* 1:00 pm	No. 5	UC Riverside	W 5–1	3–0–1	Sierakowski 21' H. Barone 58' Cort 65' Freitag 66' G. Barone  72' Beck 81'	Sanchez  54' Benito  77' Aguirre 86'	DeMartin Stadium (611) East Lansing, MI
September 7* 7:00 pm	No. 3	at Bowling Green	W 3–0	4–0–1	Sierakowski 53' Jones 81', 88'		Cochrane Stadium (826) Bowling Green, OH
September 10* 7:00 pm, BTN+	No. 3	Oakland	W 4–2	5–0–1			DeMartin Stadium (1,106) East Lansing, MI
September 14* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	No. 4	at Yale	T 2–2 2OT	5–0–2			Reese Stadium (1,014) New Haven, CT
September 17* 7:00 pm, BTN+	No. 4	at No. 8 Notre Dame Rivalry	W 1–0	6–0–2			Alumni Stadium (718) South Bend, IN
Big Ten regular season
September 21 7:00 pm, BTN+	No. 5	Rutgers	W 2–1	7–0–2 (1–0–0)			DeMartin Stadium (1,303) East Lansing, MI
September 26 6:00 pm, BTN+	No. 5	at Penn State	W 2–1	8–0–2 (2–0–0)			Jeffrey Field (552) State College, PA
September 30 2:00 pm, BTN	No. 5	Wisconsin	L 0–1 OT	8–1–2 (2–1–0)			DeMartin Stadium (1,028) East Lansing, MI
October 5 7:00 pm, BTN	No. 5	at Maryland	W 2–0	9–1–2 (3–1–0)			Ludwig Field (3,145) College Park, MD
October 9* 7:05 pm, BTN	No. 8	No. 19 Akron	L 1–2	9–2–2			DeMartin Stadium (1,017) East Lansing, MI
October 12 7:00 pm	No. 13	at Ohio State	W 2–1	10–2–2 (4–1–0)			Jesse Owens Stadium (543) Columbus, OH
October 19 7:05 pm, BTN	No. 13	Northwestern	T 0–0 2OT	10–2–3 (4–1–1)			DeMartin Stadium (1,508) East Lansing, MI
October 23 8:00 pm, BTN	No. 12	No. 18 Michigan Big Bear Trophy	T 1–1 2OT	10–2–4 (4–1–2)			DeMartin Stadium (2,139) East Lansing, MI
October 28 4:05 pm, ESPNU	No. 12	at No. 2 Indiana	L 0–1 OT	10–3–4 (4–2–2)			Bill Armstrong Stadium (2,454) Bloomington, IN
Big Ten Tournament
November 4 1:05 pm, BTN+	(4) No. 17	(5) No. 23 Maryland	L 0–1 OT	10–4–4			DeMartin Stadium (638) East Lansing, MI
NCAA Tournament
November 15* 7:00 pm, ESPN3	No. 25	UIC First round	W 2–0	11–4–4			DeMartin Stadium (332) East Lansing, MI
November 18* 5:00 pm, ACCN	No. 25	at (4) No. 4 Louisville Second round	W 2–1 OT	12–4–4			Lynn Stadium (1,491) Louisville, KY
November 25* 1:00 pm	No. 7	at (13) No. 13 Georgetown Sweet Sixteen	W 1–0	13–4–4			Cooper Field (1,855) Washington, DC
December 1* 5:00 pm	No. 7	No. 8 James Madison Elite Eight	W 2–1	14–4–4			DeMartin Stadium (1,758) East Lansing, MI
December 7* 8:00 pm, ESPNU	No. 4	vs. No. 2 Akron College Cup	L 1–5	14–5–4			Harder Stadium (1,758) Santa Barbara, CA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Statistics

Honors

Date	Player	Honor	Ref.
August 28	Jimmy Hague	Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week	[2]
September 11	DeJuan Jones	Big Ten Player of the Week	[3]
September 25	Ryan Sierakowski	Big Ten Player of the Week	[4]
October 9	Patrick Nielsen	Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week	[5]
November 2	Giuseppe Barone	Big Ten Midfielder of the Year	[6]
		All-Big Ten First Team
	Giuseppe Barone
	Patrick Nielsen
	DeJuan Jones	All-Big Ten Second Team
	Jimmy Hague
	Ryan Sierakowski
	Jack Beck	All-Big Ten Rookie Team
	Farai Mutatu
	Connor Corrigan	Big Ten Sportsmanship Award
November 11	Connor Corrigan	All-Big Ten Tournament Team	[7]

Players selected in the 2019 MLS Draft

Main article: 2019 MLS SuperDraft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Club	Ref.
DeJuan Jones	MF	1	11	New England Revolution	[8]
Ryan Sierakowski	FW	1	23	Portland Timbers	[9]
Jimmy Hague	GK	2	30	FC Cincinnati	[10]

See also

• 2018 Big Ten Conference Men's Soccer Tournament
• 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament