Michigan State is heading back to the Big Ten Tournament final, and it only needed one moment to get there.
Renee Watson’s free kick in the 40th minute held up as the difference Sunday at Energizer Park in St. Louis, lifting the Spartans to a 1-0 win over Michigan in the semifinals. Michigan State will play for the conference title next Friday for the second straight season.
The sequence that decided it started with Kayla Briggs being hauled down at the top of the penalty area on the right side, giving MSU a set piece in a dangerous spot. Bella Najera ran over the ball as a decoy, and Watson’s left-footed strike bent inward and tucked into the right side of the net, just beyond a diving Malia Zillman.
Michigan State controlled much of the first half and looked the more dangerous side, even if the final numbers stayed close in a few spots. The Spartans finished with a 5-4 edge in shots on net and had a 3-2 advantage in shots on target in the opening half, along with five corner kicks to Michigan’s one. Each team picked up a yellow card before halftime, and MSU committed seven fouls to Michigan’s 10.
The Wolverines pushed harder after the break and ended with 15 shot attempts, including an 11-5 edge in the second half. The teams each finished with five corners, while Michigan was whistled for 17 fouls to MSU’s 10 and collected two yellow cards.
Michigan State improved to 15-3-2 and is now one win away from its first-ever Big Ten Tournament championship. The Spartans will face either No. 3 seed Purdue or No. 7 seed Wisconsin.
Michigan entered the semifinal as the No. 8 seed after upsetting top-seeded Ohio State on Thursday to reach this stage. The Wolverines are now waiting for the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, Nov. 16.
The win also gave MSU a little payback after a 3-1 loss to Michigan in the regular season, which had snapped a four-game winning streak for the Spartans.
Watson’s goal was her fourth of the season, matching her junior-year career high. She is tied for fourth on the team in goals and fifth in points with 11. Watson played all 90 minutes, her seventh straight full match and 12th complete game of the season.
Noelle Henning made seven saves, with three coming in the first half and four in the second, to earn her ninth shutout of the season and set a new career best. That total puts her fifth in MSU’s single-season record book, and her 17 career shutouts also rank fifth. The victory was the 24th of her Michigan State career, which is seventh all-time.
Michigan State has now matched its 2025 total of 15 wins in 20 games, the second-most in program history. The school record remains 17 victories, set in 2022.
The Spartans are 3-4-0 all-time in Big Ten semifinal games and 0-1-1 in championship matches. Last season, MSU played Washington to a 1-1 overtime draw in the title game before falling in penalty kicks.
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For Michigan State, the win was the cleanest possible answer to a game the Wolverines were expected to control, but the bigger takeaway for the maize-and-blue side is how many problems surfaced at once. The offense never found rhythm, the coaching decisions came under scrutiny and even special teams became part of the conversation, leaving Michigan with more to sort through than a single bad result. [Read more 🡒]