MSU 12-6 (3-0 CCLA)
The Season
Michigan State reached a new high in recent history, knocking off then-#2 Arizona State in the middle of the season, along with a near-upset of Colorado State in the same weekend. Save for a head-scratcher against unranked Sonoma State near the beginning of the season, the Spartans only lost to teams that finished in the final top-10 (including twice against Michigan).
All told, MSU had a strong enough season to earn the #7 seed in the MCLA Tournament, but the Spartans came out flat against #10 Florida State. The Seminoles controlled the pace of play, and MSU could never find a rhythm en route to a first-round exit from the tournament.
Still, it seems like Dwayne Hicks has his program on the upswing. Depending on the fate of a certain squad to their South and East, the Spartans could be making a push toward the upper echelon of the MCLA. MSU currently reminds me of Michigan (prior to the years of dominance), where they had a reputation for being very good, but rarely great, and exiting the MCAL Tournament a little earlier than expected.
Michigan and Life Without The Wolverines
So then, it seems The Spartans’ fate going forward is indeed linked to what happens with Michigan. Though MSU came close to upsetting their arch-rivals once this season, the fact remains that they’ve only knocked off the Wolverines once in dozens of tries. As long as Michigan is around, it seems unlikely that Michigan State will be able to take over as the MCLA overlord of the midwest.
If Michigan leaves the league, MSU is much better-positioned than most CCLA teams to dominate the region, and they could follow a “Michigan Model,” so to speak (though it seems unlikely that any MCLA program will ever again run like the well-oiled machine that Michigan has been in the past four years) to take on that role.
Conference re-alignment (which I brainstormed a few ideas about on CollegeLax a month or so back) could play a role in this as well.
Going Forward
In the immediate future, things don’t look quite as bright for State. In fact, this seemed like their peak year for a while. Here is a list of their MCLA All-Americans:
- Connor Bush, Michigan State (1st Team Midfield)
- Patrick Nemes, Michigan State (2nd Team Attack)
- Smith Atwood, Michigan State (2nd Team Goalie)
- Alex Gage, Michigan State (3rd Team Defensive Midfield)
- Pat Green, Michigan State (Honorable Mention Midfield)
- Wes Binder, Michigan State (Honorable Mention Defense)
Of those players, Bush, Nemes, and Gage are all graduating (along with All-CCLA defensemen Brendan Hunt and Mike Schneider, All-CCLA attackman Dan Witt, and All-CCLA LSM Ben Daiek). Though the Spartans have had other players step up – Michael Baily and Josh Nemes are sophomores, for example – it remains to be seen how well MSU can reload.
Still, assuming Michigan is gone, MSU should be able to earn the CCLA auto-bid to the MCLA tournament, and build toward another run in the coming years.
Unfortunately one of the downsides of Michigan going DI USILA is that we lose that rivalry game that was a great lacrosse event every spring. Now MSU and Michigan will not meet once a year on one side of the state or the other. I can’t think of what replaces this.
Also, both Michigan and Michigan State benefited from having a competitive program less than an hour away. Now MSU will have to fly somewhere to get the kind of competition it needs during the season. Unless Western or Central steps up, the closest real competition is in Colorado and Florida. Buffalo is perhaps getting there. Ohio U could be good competition if it finds a coach and the organization it would need to find funding for out of conference trips and such.
But ten years ago, to have both these teams playing this well and headed for the apparent future was not considered possible.
I agree, Michigan State is at a serious crossroads. They could either step it up (and essentially become the next Michigan), or start to fall off without the yin to their yang down in Ann Arbor.