History
Women's soccer at Michigan State started in the fall semester of 1978 when two freshmen, Nancy Hanna and Jody Peebles, formed a women's team in the men's intramural soccer league with some friends. They won only a single game, but were competitive against the men's teams, and demonstrated that there was interest in women's soccer. [5] [1] The following semester, Hanna worked with the men's varsity soccer coach Joe Baum to promote establishing the women's club soccer team. They were able to gather 53 students to form two teams, a recreational squad and a competitive club team with an eight game schedule against other local women's club soccer teams. [6] [1] With Hanna as their goalkeeper and a co-captain, the women won their very first game, against the University of Michigan women's club team, 4-1 on April 22, 1979. The other co-captain, Julie Ebling, scored the team's first ever goal. [7] Led by Coach Charlie Van Nederpelt, the team would go on to be undefeated in their first year. [8]
In 1982, the team received an invitation to the NCAA women's soccer championships, but was ineligible since they did not have varsity status. Over the next few years, students including Annie Kurz and Julie Stachecki campaigned for elevating the team to varsity status. Despite their continued success on the field, the university was reluctant to do so, imposing new conditions and repeatedly rejecting the idea. Finally, in April 1985, Michigan State became the second Big Ten school to field a varsity women's soccer team. [1] The team would begin playing in 1986, competing as an independent with men's soccer coach Joe Baum coaching the women's team as well, assisted by future head coach Tom Saxton. [1] [9]
The varsity team debuted on September 11, 1986 with a 5-0 home win over Kalamazoo. Baum coached both the men's and women's varsity teams concurrently for five seasons. [10] His teams continued the success of the club era, never finishing with fewer than 12 wins over the next 5 years. [11] : 25
Tom Saxton was promoted to head coach in 1991, with Joe Baum continuing to coach the men's soccer team. Saxton coached the team for the next 30 years; his tenure included the program's first NCAA tournament appearance, but was also marked by struggles in conference play. In 1994, the Big Ten conference began sponsoring women's soccer, with Michigan State finishing first in the regular season before falling to Minnesota in the inaugural Big Ten women's soccer tournament. The following seasons saw a reversal of the team's fortunes as they experienced their first losing season, as well as multiple seasons without any conference wins. [11] : 26–27 The 2000s saw a return to form, as the team once again turned in consecutive winning seasons, and made their first trip to the NCAA tournament in 2002, the first of four trips under Saxton. 2005 was the most successful season in the nearly a decade, with a third place finish in the Big Ten followed by the program's first NCAA tournament win. 2008 saw a fourth place finish in the Big Ten and another NCAA tournment win over Milwaukee. [11] : 28–29 Following a third place finish in the Big Ten in 2011, the final decade of Saxton's tenure saw a prolonged drought as the team routinely finished near the bottom of the conference standings. [12]
On June 14, 2021 Jeff Hosler was named the third head coach of the program. [13] [12]
Michigan State women's soccer has appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. [11] [14]
