The Michigan State Spartans men's soccer team represents

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in NCAA Division I and in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. The team has made twenty appearances in the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament with the most recent coming in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. The Spartans have won two national championships, in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

and

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, sharing titles with Saint Louis and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

respectively.

History

Michigan State soccer began play in 1956, defeating arch-rival

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

3–1 at Old College Field in East Lansing in the program's first ever game as a varsity sport. The program found quick success with a first NCAA tournament appearance in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, advancing to the semifinals with a 2–0 loss to eventual national champion Saint Louis, kick-starting an 8-year run of post-season success under legendary coach Gene Kenney. The Spartans advanced to the finals in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, losing 1–0 to

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, and in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, losing to Saint Louis 1–0. Then, behind two-time All-American and Jamaican import Trevor Harris, who had followed fellow Jamaicans and All-Americans Payton Fuller and Tony Keyes to East Lansing, Michigan State won a co-national championship in

with the championship game against Saint Louis tied 0–0 and called due to weather, after a 12–0–1 season. The Spartans then repeated in

with the championship game against

ending in a 2–2 draw capping an 11–1–3 campaign. Despite winning seasons in all but 7 seasons over 31 years after Coach Kenney moved into athletic administration in 1970, it would take until

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

for Michigan State to return to the NCAA tournament, losing to

rival

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

1–0 in the second round after defeating

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2–1 in their first tournament match since 1969. The Spartans advanced to the Elite Eight in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, one of only two teams in history to make back-to-back Elite Eight appearances, and returned to the College Cup in the 2018 NCAA season, losing in the national semifinals to

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

5–1. On April 13, 2024, the Spartans defeated

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by the score 2–1 to win the College Spring League championship. Big Ten conference soccer began play in 1991 and Michigan State has won the conference post-season tournament three times - 2004, 2008 and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Notable Spartans

14 Players in Michigan State history have been selected as first-team All-American by the

United Soccer Coaches The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

- Al Sarria (1958); Cecil Heron (1959); Enoch Streder (1959); Reinier Kemeling (1961, 1962); Rubens Filizola (1962); Payton Fuller (1964); Guy Busch (1965); Nick Krat (1965); Peter Hens (1966); Trevor Harris (1967, 1968); Tony Keyes (1968); Buzz Demling (1970); Jay Chapman (2014); and Giuseppe Barone (2018). Jay Chapman 2015

Two Spartan men's soccer players have been honored as Academic All-American - Doug DeMartin in 2008 and Ryan Keener in 2014. Former Spartan goalie Joe Baum, a member of the 1967 and 1968 national title teams, would return to coach the team for over 30 years and was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1996, 2000 and 2008. When Baum retired after the 2008 season, following that path, former player and assistant coach

Damon Rensing Damon Rensing is an American soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association ...

returned to coach the team. Reid Friedrichs (2006) and Doug DeMartin (2008) were honored as Big Ten Player of the Year. To date, three Spartans have been enshrined in the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame - coach Gene Kenney; player and coach Joe Baum; and striker Trevor Harris, who helped lead the Spartans to back-to-back national championships in 1967 and 1968.

Fatai Alashe Abdul-Fatai Alashe (born October 21, 1993) is an American professional association football, soccer player. Career College and amateur Alashe spent all four years of his college career at Michigan State University where he made a total of 86 ap ...

was selected 4th in the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Janua ...

, the highest drafted Spartan to-date, and would go on to play several seasons in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, joining other MLS Spartans including DeMartin, Rauwshan McKenzie, Ken Krolicki and Greg Janicki. The

United States National Team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

has featured a number of Spartans, including Nick Krat (10 caps) who, in 1968, became the first Michigan State alumnus to suit up for the United States. Alex Skotarek (10 caps) and Buzz Demling (4 caps, 1972 U.S. Olympic team member) would play for the U.S., and

DeJuan Jones DeJuan Lytelle Jones (born June 24, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes and the United States national team. Early life Introduced to soccer at the age of ...

, who played at

East Lansing High School East Lansing High School is a public high school in the city of East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It is managed by the East Lansing Public Schools district. The school is located about a mile north of the Michigan State University campu ...

before coming to Michigan State, made his first appearance with the USMNT in 2023. In addition, Trevor Harris played for the Jamaican national team and Jay Chapman has suited up for his home country of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Big Ten Tournament Champion

Program alumni

References

External links

* {{Big Ten Conference men's soccer navbox

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 Varsity team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...

1956 establishments in Michigan Association football clubs established in 1956