June 22, 2008

East Lansing, Mich - Eight NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago dot the Michigan State 2008 field hockey schedule, as announced on Wednesday, June 18 by head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof.

"We are excited about the challenging schedule this fall - the early part of the season should really allow us to prepare for Big Ten Conference play and build the foundation from which we can be successful in post season competition," noted the coach. "If we want to be one of the best teams in the country, we have to play with the best. By facing conference champions and NCAA tournament participants we allow ourselves the best development and preparation opportunities. We enjoyed a great spring and repeated as Midwest Spring League Champions - now it is time to move forward and see for what championships we can compete for this fall."

The Spartans will open the campaign on the road at Louisville, which hosts the sixth annual Champions Invitational. MSU captured the Invitational title last season when it hosted in East Lansing, posting a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals and a 3-2 overtime victory over Ohio. This season, the Cardinals host the Spartans, Duke, and Delaware in the two-day event.

The Spartans open their home season at Ralph Young Field on Wednesday, Sept. 3 against regular-season and tournament champion of the NorPac, Stanford; a date with Syracuse follows on Sept 7 at home. MSU will travel to the east coast to take on three-time defending America East champion Boston University on Sept. 13 and the University of New Hampshire the following day in Durham. MSU will have a neutral-site contest at Miami (OH) on Friday, Sept. 19 against Pacific, then tangles with the host Red Hawks the next afternoon.

Michigan State opens Big Ten play on the road at Ohio State, which will be followed by a non-league contest against visiting Cal the next day. Conference play resumes on Oct. 3 in the Big Ten home opener against Indiana, and a game against Temple at home on Oct. 5 rounds out the weekend set. Oct. 10th's game at Northwestern will be followed by a non-league showdown with Wake Forest on Oct. 11; the two teams have settled into a tight, fierce rivalry. The teams have met at least once each year since 2000, with the most recent game a 3-2 Demon Deacon victory in the 2007 NCAA Tournament in Ann Arbor.

The following weekend is another of hearty competition, as Oct. 17 has the Spartans facing defending Big Ten regular-season champion Michigan on Friday, followed by a showdown with 2007 MAC regular-season and tournament champion Ohio University. A showdown with Iowa follows at Ralph Young Field on Oct. 25; the Spartans earned a 1-0 win over the Hawkeyes in Iowa City during the regular season, but the Hawkeyes then defeated MSU in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament in route to the conference tournament title.

The season concludes with a weekend set against Penn State (Oct. 31) at home, where the Spartans will honor their seniors in their final regular-season home game. The Nittany Lions appeared in the NCAA title game a year ago, but the Spartans won a 3-2 decision in State College. A game at Central Michigan brings the regular-season to a close on Sun. Nov. 2 in Mt. Pleasant. The Big Ten Tournament will be hosted by Indiana University Nov. 6-9 in Bloomington.

The Spartans, who were 16-6-0 (5-1 Big Ten) in 2007, will return 16 letterwinners to the 2008 squad which advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament and earned its fifth NCAA Tournament bid in seven seasons. MSU ended the season seventh in the national rankings.

MSU Field Hockey

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