The Spartans would spend the majority of the second locked at 4-1 until senior midfielder Tom Haubenreich fired a pass to junior captain Connor Bush who ripped a shot past the Oregon defense to cut the Ducks’ lead to two. Michigan State sliced Oregon’s lead to one before halftime when Bush found Baily across the crease who then stuck a shot right past Johnston’s ear to notch the score at 4-3. Although the Oregon had the lead heading into halftime, the Spartans owed the momentum.

The start of the third quarter was dull to say the least. Nearly nine minutes would pass before junior Patrick Nemes picked up a contested ground ball which led to Bush’s second goal and a tie score at 4-4. The momentum shift was in full effect when the Bush/Baily connection struck again and Baily rocked a shot off the cross bar and into the net that gave the Spartans their first lead of the game. However, the Ducks’ offense had not gone completely cold. After Oregon retained possession after an errant shot, senior attackman Justin Blackmore beat the Spartan defense to tie the score at five apiece. It would be the Ducks’ first goal in the game since the 3:52 mark in the first quarter. Time expired in the third quarter before any team could establish a lead, leaving only the fourth quarter to settle the score.

The fourth quarter fireworks immediately started when junior defenseman Brendan Hunt stretched the full length of the field on a clear and hit Baily on the crease for his hat trick and a 6-5 lead for Michigan State. The Spartans could not hold on to the lead for long because a minute later Oregon answered right back off the faceoff to tie the score at six. The goal hardly demoralized the Spartans when five minutes later attackman Patrick Nemes bullied his defender down to the goal, turned and stuck the ball short-side past the goalie’s helmet to put the Spartans up 7-6. Michigan State would add two more goals to their count including one more from Baily and another from sophomore midfielder Mike Degenhardt on an empty net giving the Spartans a 9-7 lead and yet another win among top 10 opponents.

Michigan State out hustled Oregon on the ground picking up 46 ground balls to the Ducks’ 39, led by Patrick Nemes with six. The Spartans also dominated Oregon on the faceoff winning 65% of all the face-offs. Michigan State’s staple defense of Matt LaCasse, Brendan Hunt and Mike Schneider shut down the Oregon offense for the majority of the game despite the first quarter slip. Another outstanding performance was turned in by senior goalie Dean Hall who boasted a 63.2 save percentage against a top tier offense. Other stand out players of the game included defensive midfielder Justin Ward and David Reese who held a highly talented corp of Oregon midfielders to four goals on the day.

Coach Hicks was excited after a big win but now has the task of keeping his team focused going into conference play. “A lot of people look at the rankings. The only ranking I’m worried about is the one at the end of the year,” Hicks said, “We have some tough games coming up and teams are hoping to make a name for themselves by beating Michigan State. No matter who we play, ranked or unranked, we have a huge target on our chest. Now, we’ll have to be more focused than ever.”

No. 13 Michigan State, 4-1 (0-0), faces their first in conference competition this Saturday when they square off against Central Michigan in Mt. Pleasant at 8:00 p.m..