Nov. 7, 2009

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - Junior forward Matt Eliason's 13th goal of the season just over five minutes in the match held up as No. 17 Northwestern concluded its regular season Saturday with a 1-0 win over Michigan State at Lakeside Field.

The victory allowed the Wildcats to finish their Big Ten season with a 3-2-1 record, good for a second-place tie with Penn State. Entering the day, NU had an opportunity to win a share of the conference title if Ohio State were to lose or tie Michigan. However, the Buckeyes earned a 1-0 victory to claim the outright title and the No. 1 seed for next week's Big Ten tournament.

Northwestern (10-3-4, 3-2-1) will be seeded third for the tourney and will face off again against the sixth-seeded Spartans (10-6-2, 2-4-0) in Thursday's opening round.

As he has done all year, Eliason provided the heroics. On Senior Night, redshirt junior Kevin Valenta fed a ball through the box to Eliason who found himself one-on-one with Jeremy Clark and beat him for the score.

It was Eliason's 30th goal of his career, tying him with Jonathan Hall (1986-89) for the school's all-time lead.

The Wildcats would finish the opening half of play with an 8-3 advantage in shots.

Michigan State came out the aggressor following the intermission and controlled possession, but Northwestern was able to prevent the visitors from earning any quality scoring chances.

The Spartans' closest call came in the final 30 seconds of as Cyrus Saydee fired a shot on goal, but a Wildcat defender was in the right place at the right time to make the stop and preserve the win.

NU finished with a 13-9 edge in shots, while MSU had a 9-5 advantage in corner kicks.

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