For the first time in program history, the Michigan State women's soccer team has earned back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Championship. The NCAA announced Monday night that the Spartans will take on the Santa Clara University Broncos on Friday (Nov. 13) at 6 p.m. ET in Santa Clara, Calif. For MSU, it is the fourth NCAA bid in program history (2002, `05, `08 and `09).

"It's very exciting and more than anything else, I am happy for our players," said Spartan head coach Tom Saxton. "We've gone through a lot this year and really pulled together down the stretch and got a few big victories. I'm really happy for our team."

For the eighth time in the last 10 seasons, Michigan State won at least 10 games as it went 11-4-4 overall this year. The Spartans recorded a pair of signature wins this season over Big Ten Champion Penn State (3-2, OT) and Big Ten runner-up Ohio State (1-0).

The 13-6-1 Broncos finished behind No. 2 Portland in the West Coast Conference this season, going 5-2 in league play. Santa Clara, seeded fourth in the region, was ranked No. 14 in the most recent NSCAA/adidas Coaches Poll.

The winner of the MSU/Santa Clara match up will then take on either Southern California or Oklahoma State on Sunday (Nov. 15) at 7 p.m. Stanford (20-0-0) is the No. 1 seed in the region.

Last season MSU defeated UW-Milwaukee, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and then fell to the eventual tournament runner-up Notre Dame (1-0) in the second round in South Bend, Ind.

"The key to taking the next step as a program is to start to get some consistency," said Saxton. "This is our fourth trip in less than 10 years and when you can string back-to-back years together that is a sign that we're establishing ourselves at a higher level."
The Spartans were one of five Big Ten teams to receive a bid to the tournament, joining Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State.