For only the second time this season, the No. 12 men’s soccer team found itself unable to find the back of the net. The team suffered a 2-0 loss to No. 16 Michigan State on Saturday, its second loss in as many games.

The game started on a positive note, with the Nittany Lions getting a few close shots by both Kyle MacDonald and Owen Griffith in the early going, but Michigan goalie Zach Bennett came up with some big saves.

However, 20 minutes into the game, Michigan’s offense caught fire. Jason Stacy scored from 20 yards out after Penn State failed to clear a corner kick, the ball sailed past Andrew Wolverton, and put the Spartans up 1-0. Not even 10 minutes later, Michigan struck again. Jay Chapman took a pass from Adam Montague and perfectly placed it past Wolverton for the second time. That was the last score of the game, and Penn State was left playing catch up. The half ended with the Nittany Lions being out-shot 6-4.

For the rest of the game, Penn State tried its best to get the ball in the net, even out-shooting Michigan 5-0 during one stretch. Michigan has the No. 1 defense in the Big Ten, having only conceded five goals for the entire season (three came from a 3-2 loss to Ohio State). By the end of the game, Penn State had out-shot the Spartans 12-6, and was unable to capitalize on 11 corner kicks, nine more than Michigan.

The Nittany Lions are now 10-2-1 for the season and 4-1-1 in the Big Ten. Hopefully, they can get their offense up and running once more as they face two big home games this week: On Wednesday they will face West Virginia at 7 p.m.; on Sunday, it’ll be Wisconsin at 2 p.m. (that game will also be the annual THON Day and Senior Day).