EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – It depends on what you say is a story book ending and for the Michigan State University women’s soccer team it was  fairy tale season. Winning 17 games and advancing to the NCAA Tournament second round, the 2022 season was the best season in program history for the Spartans.

“I’m so proud of this team and what they were able to do this year. For our players  who played their last game, they mean everything to us, and they gave everything to us today (in the loss to TCU),” says head coach Jeff Hosler. “For the group that will return, we got a lot of experience out of this and found a taste for how to get things done in the post season. If anything, we will use this to stay just as hungry for success and move forward together as a group.”

MSU’s season came to a close this past Friday in a 1-0 loss to number 17 Texas Christian University in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in South Bend, Ind. They fell to the Horned Frogs, 1-0, with the lone goal coming in the third minute of the match. MSU out played TCU the rest of the game with 17  shots, six on goal, holding TCU to just six shot as three were on goal. But with all those shots, MSU couldn’t find the tying goal as TCU came away with the win.

Hosler says, “We were so close. We rang a couple of balls off the crossbar today. They had an incredible save on the one back-post ball to Cam (Evans). They made the biggest play in the game; the one that put them ahead. We didn’t find frame enough, and weren’t able to find a way to capitalize. For all the possession and all the territory that we took, we still had to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net.”

The second round appearance matched the program best finish in the tournament making it there for the third time. They now have a 3-5 record in the NCAA Tournament advancing to the second round in 2005 and 2008.

MSU also won the Big Ten regular season championship at 9-0-1 which is the program’s first in the 36-year history of the program. It was also just the ninth overall undefeated Big Ten regular season title since 1994.

The Spartan’s most successful season in program history ends with a 17-3-3 record.