OPPONENT PREVIEW: UVU heads to East Lansing to face Michigan State

Where: East Lansing, Mich. at DeMartin Stadium

When: Aug. 22 at 5 p.m. MST

UVU begins their season with their first match Thursday, Aug. 22 on the road in East Lansing, Michigan. The Wolverines will take on the Spartans of Michigan State. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

• Quick Glance: Michigan State University
• Nickname: Spartans
• Location: East Lansing, Michigan
• Conference: Big Ten
• 2018 Season: 5-10-3 (overall), 0-9-2 (conference play), 4-5-1 (home), 0-5-2 (away), 1-0-0 (neutral site)

The Spartans will look to get off to winning ways in their first match of the season after coming off of eight straight losses to end the 2018 season. MSU will also look to garner a winning season for the first time since 2015, where they went 8-6-4 overall but finished ninth in conference play.

MSU Head Coach Tom Saxton will be entering his 29 season with the team. Saxton has an overall record of 265-232-54 as head coach of the Spartans, and has had a winning record in 12 of the last 19 seasons. In Saxton’s tenure with MSU he has guided them to four NCAA tournament trips and 12 Big Ten tournament appearances.

The defense and goalkeeping for the Spartans was a bright spot during the 2018 season — having never given up more than three goals in a single match. They also put up six clean sheets last season, five of those coming in each of their wins.

A bright spot for this upcoming season is having 2018’s leading scorer back for the Spartans in Camryn Evans. She led the team with seven goals last season as a freshman and was just named to the Big Ten preseason honors list along with two other Spartans — senior Michaela Kovacs and freshman Bria Schrotenboer.

Both the Wolverines and Spartans will look to start this season with a win after coming off mutual losing seasons. The key match-up to watch for will be forward Camryn Evans on the attack against an experienced UVU defense.

Photo courtesy of UVU Athletics.