EAST LANSING, Mich. – The No. 14-ranked Western Michigan men's soccer team battled No. 7 Michigan State in East Lansing to a 1-1 draw Monday afternoon in an exhibition match during its first action of the season.

"Pretty good performance from the guys today," commented WMU head coach Chad Wiseman. "We were able to generate four to five really good scoring chances against a Michigan State team who year in year out is very strong defensively, so I'm very pleased there."
 
The Broncos came out strong, firing the first two shots of the game along with the first corner kick, which led to an early 1-0 lead for WMU. In his first action as a Bronco, Marquette transfer Brendan Skinner tallied the goal for the Brown & Gold in the 36th minute while Guiseppe Vitale was credited with the assist.
 
Elijah Michaels earned the start in between the pipes and recorded one save in the first half. The Spartans held a 6-4 shot advantage heading into the break while the Broncos held a 1-0 advantage.
 
Western Michigan held on to the lead through the first 25 minutes of the second half before surrendering a Spartan tally. DeJuan Jones scored at the 71^st minute to knot the game at 1-1.

"Our goal was right off the training ground, we want to be strong on restarts," Wiseman commented. "We believe we possess the players to be strong on restarts and it was certainly nice to find a goal that way." 
 
The score stood at 1-1 for the rest of the match, including 15 minutes of overtime. Freshman goalkeepers Eric Cotton and Isaac Walker saw time in net during extra minutes. The Bronco backline held strong as they were out shot 12-7 while turning away nine corner kicks. Tommy Clark led the WMU attack with two shots.

"We have much to improve on, our blue collar mentality needs to be evaluated this coming week in training. I believe the leadership on this team will do just that. MSU is a great test for our squad, they will compete for the Big Ten title and be a NCAA Tournament team at season end. The team is starting to take shape one week into preseason. They're a talented and fun group to be around," Wiseman concluded.
 
Western Michigan returns to action on Thursday, Aug. 16 for another exhibition match as they travel to Valparaiso University. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. (CST) from Eastgate Field.