MATCH DAY: Penn State WSOC at No. 5 Michigan State

OPENING KICKOFF

• Penn State women’s soccer opens its Michigan road trip with a match against No. 5 Michigan State on Thursday, October 22. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (ET) at DeMartin Stadium in East Lansing and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. 

• Penn State enters the penultimate week of the regular season ranked No. 30 in the NCAA RPI rankings. Meanwhile, the Spartans remain at No. 4 in the RPI, No. 4 according to TopDrawerSoccer and No. 5 in the coaches poll. 

• The Blue & White got back in the win column against Rutgers last Saturday, improving to 5-2-2 in conference play and 7-3-4 overall. The team looks to earn back-to-back wins for the third time this season in East Lansing.  

• Penn State currently sits sixth in the Big Ten with 17 points. Michigan State is third in the conference with 21 points, three behind Ohio State for the top spot.  

• The Blue & White defense has allowed just five goals in nine conference contests, tied for the second fewest allowed in the Big Ten. For the season, PSU has seven shutouts and has allowed just 10 goals, good for third in the conference. 

• The offense has taken the sixth-most shots (120) and second-most corner kicks (64) in league play.  

• The Nittany Lions rank tied for fifth in the conference with 1.714 goals per match and fifth in the Big Ten with a 1.00 goal margin of victory through 14 outings. 

• Redshirt senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress has recorded 28 saves and five shutouts in nine Big Ten matches. She set a personal record with her fifth shutout of the season in Penn State’s 1-0 win over Rutgers for the most clean sheets in a season of her illustious career in the Blue & White. 

• Gress ranks top five in saves, save percentage (0.843), goals against average (0.56) and shutouts among Big Ten keepers in conference play this season.  

• Senior forward Paige Kalal scored the lone goal for Penn State against Rutgers, the 13th goal of her career and fifth this season, tying her career-high, which she set at Minnesota a season ago. The score was her third penalty kick goal of the 2026 campaign. 

• Kalal ranks second on Penn State’s team in points (14) and goals (four) behind junior forward Aubrey Kulpa with 15 and six, respectively. The Brooklyn Park, Minnesota native leads the team with four assists. 

• The Nittany Lions offense fired off 15 shots against the Scarlet Knights, including six on target. It marked the seventh time this season their offense has attempted at least 15 shots in a single match.

STUDYING THE SPARTANS

• No. 5 Michigan State has been one of the top teams in the country this season, reaching as high as the No. 1 ranking this season. The Spartans currently boast an 11-2-2 overall record and are 7-2-0 in Big Ten play, good for third in the conference with 21 points. 

• MSU’s two losses have come against then-No. 25 Purdue and in-state rival Michigan, which was their only home loss this season. The Spartans are coming off a 2-0 win over Indiana last Friday, their eighth shutout victory of the year.  

• The Michigan State offense has scored 21 goals in nine Big Ten matches, averaging 2.333 goals per match and a conference-leading 1.55 goal margin of victory. They also lead the conference with 161 shot attempts, 32 assists, and 78 corner kicks in league play. The team averages 8.53 corner kicks per match this season, the best mark in the country in the statistic. The Spartans’ 2.80 assists per match are ninth nationally. 

• Kennedy Bell leads the Spartan offense with eight goals and eight assists on the season. She has three multi-goal games this season and ranks top three among Big Ten players in goals, points, and assists. 

• Kayla Briggs leads the Big Ten and ranks tied for 12thin the nation with nine assists on the year on top of her six goals, four of which have been game-winners. 

• Goalkeeper Noelle Henning has been a strong presence between the posts for MSU since returning from the U-20 Women’s World Cup as a member of Team Canada, recording 24 saves and six clean sheets in eight matches. Her 0.882 save percentage and 0.40 goals against average against Big Ten opponents rank second in the conference.

STORY OF THE SERIES

• In 33 all-time contests, Penn State holds a 26-7-0 advantage over Michigan State. 

• The Spartans took home the victory in the most recent match, winning 1-0 at Jeffery Field in 2024. The Nittany Lions won, 3-1, the year prior at DeMartin Stadium.  

• Michigan State has not defeated Penn State in consecutive matchups since the first two meetings in 1994 and 1995. Five of MSU’s seven all-time wins occurred on its home turf. However, Penn State has won three straight and six of the last seven in East Lansing. 

• The two squads have met three times in the Big Ten tournament, with Penn State winning all three fixtures. The most recent meeting was in 2022, when sixth-seeded PSU upset top-seed MSU in the championship game for Penn State’s ninth Big Ten Tournament title.