East Lansing, Mich. – No. 16 Michigan State broke open a tight game with four second-half scores to earn a 5-1 victory over (RV) Illinois in its regular-season home finale on Sunday afternoon. The Spartans are now 9-3-5 and 6-1-3 in Big Ten play, while the Illini fall to 5-4-1 in Conference action and 12-4-1 overall. It was the most goals conceded by the Illini in a game this season.

In a game that featured a wet field, a steady rain, and increasing winds throughout, both first-half goals came from set pieces – the Spartans opened the scoring with a goal by Maggie Illig off a corner kick just 13 minutes into the game, and the Illini knotted the score in the 25th minute off a free kick from about 23 yards out. Each team had seven attempts in the first half, with four of MSU’s on target co

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