This weekend, only one Northwestern team could pull off a huge Big Ten upset, and it wasn’t the men’s soccer team.

Although they were looking for their first regular-season conference win since 1999, the Wildcats failed to get on the board Sunday and suffered a 1-0 loss to Michigan State (7-2-0, 1-1) in East Lansing, Mich. The game was NU’s second consecutive loss after going 5-0-1 in its previous six games.

The Cats (6-3-1, 0-1), who lead the conference in goals, were held scoreless Sunday for only the second time this season. Butler shutout NU 1-0 in a match on Sept. 4.

In their first conference matchup of the season, the Cats failed to adjust to the more defensive style of the Big Ten after playing weaker teams earlier in the season.

“You can’t play the way we’ve played the way we have the past two weeks in this league,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “There will be quite a few 1-0 matches down the stretch.

“I’m just hoping we’re on the other side of them.”

The Cats started the game pressuring the Spartans with solid attacking. The Cats came out the strongest it had all year, junior Adam Sirois said.

NU lost its energy after the Spartans’ Ryan McMahen netted the game’s only goal in the 17th minute with a shot over the head of NU goaltender Justin Pines.

“They got through on us one time, and we didn’t bounce back from that very well,” Lenahan said. “We felt sorry for ourselves.”

The Spartans took over play for the remainder of the first half, but NU looked refreshed when it stepped back on the field after halftime.

“We had a lot more energy,” Sirois said. “We created a few opportunities. That final (scoring) play just never was played.”

In the second half, the Cats got six shots and hit a crossbar but were denied by Spartan goaltender Jason Tillman, who earned his second shutout of the season. The Michigan State defense held an opponent scoreless for a conference-leading fifth time this season.

The Spartans doubled NU’s shot tally with 16 shots. Ten of the those came in the second half, and many came in the closing minutes when the Cats were scrambling for a goal.

The Cats’ scoring leader Gerardo Alvarez led the team with three shots and one shot on goal.

In goal for NU, Pines made six saves in his first 90-minute game performance of the season. The sophomore usually splits time with junior Brian Heckenbach, but Lenahan said he kept Pines in because he performed well against Big Ten teams at the end of last year.

NU freshman Matt Witt cracked the starting lineup for the first time this season and registered one shot against the Spartans. Witt filled the spot left open by sophomore Will Nicholas, whose broken leg has him out for the season.

Lenahan had a good reason for putting in the 6-2 defender.

“I needed another big body in there to bang around with Michigan State,” Lenahan said.

And what about that failed upset? The Cats are thinking of a football-esque result Friday when Penn State comes to town.

“Hopefully our team will bring another big upset to the Northwestern campus next weekend,” Lenahan said.

Reach Courtney McCarty at [email protected]