Last season proved to be a difficult one for Head Coach Aaron Gordon and his young squad. Finishing with a mark of 3-15 and failing to win a conference game, Mississippi State University endured a tough season from start to finish.
However, as Tuesday night’s scrimmage against fellow SEC foe Alabama demostrated, there are a lot of reasons to get excited about the direction in which the program is heading. Winning 3-2, the Bulldogs displayed a level of offensive prowess that was absent from their play for the majority of last season. Gordon’s team was only able to muster more than two goals in a game one time during the previous campaign, which was the main source of frustration.
After the match, Gordon cracked a joke about last season’s offense, making light of how far the team has come.
“Scoring three goals at all may have taken me eight games last season,” Gordon said. “We scored three tonight, and we probably could have scored six or seven, to be fair.”
Fast-forward to the present, and you will find a new duo already showing signs of growing chemistry. This would be the combination of Mallory Eubanks and Kennadi Carbin, who both coincidentally called Kentucky their home state before committing to MSU.
Eubanks flashed serious promise last season, contributing many different fronts in attack and was the most dangerous player the Bulldogs had on their roster last season. In her upcoming sophomore season, it would not be a surprise to see her take a big leap.
As for Carbin, the new face up top talked about what the transition has been like adapting to being a part of the team.
“It’s been great,” Carbin said. “A lot of hard work, but I get through it everyday and here I am.”
It took all of 12 minutes during Tuesday’s scrimmage to watch the two produce a moment of magic, when Carbin used nifty footwork to maneuver around her defender on the right flank and find Eubanks in front of the goal. From there, last season’s star freshman was able to find the net, albeit from a deflection from a nearby defender, but it still opened up the scoring for the game.
Gordon, while stressing that it is still only the spring, said he is loving what he is seeing from his two players in the final third of field.
“That’s a partnership that I think will just grow as they get to play together,” Gordon said. “They kind of have this Kentucky connection, Lexington and Louisville, and they know each other through club soccer which helps too. There’s just quality there.”
With one year of experience notched under their belts, the large group of underclassmen should be more equipped to handle the grind that comes with the weekly challenge of SEC play. Gordon made light of what he has been preaching to his team during the offseason, highlighting the prospect of improving.
“Just growth and getting better,” Gordon said. “We’ve had a lot of time to practice and work on some things. It’s just about individually getting better and goals for each player. They look at them on the board when they walk out to practice each day, so they see what they have to work on all the time.”  
Ariana Holmes is another player that has turned heads around the program. The transfer from California could be one of the major answers at the center back position for MSU. During Tuesday’s scrimmage, her strength and ball skills were  on display as she has already begun to win over the praises of her head coach.
“She’s a transfer, and when we knew that she was thinking about transferring we jumped on it right away,” Gordon said. “We consulted her about what our team is about, and our coaching staff. She’s been awesome in terms of being a teammate, leader, and she’s got calmness about her. She just makes our team better, and we’re excited about what she brings to the table.” 
Hannah Smith and the team’s lone senior Shelby Jordan would both find the back of the net in the second half to seal the victory, but even without the goals, the style of play was enough to have the team’s senior leader speak highly of the squad’s performance.
“I think overall it was really good,” Jordan said. “I think we were the better team tonight, and we had some really good passing. We had some good moments as well, and the girls did awesome.”
 At the end of the day, a different kind of vibe is radiating from the women’s soccer team than last season. Whether it’s all the new faces that have helped mold the team or just having the extra experience under their belts, Coach Gordon saw very little he did not like against Alabama.
“We’ve worked hard in practice so we can get better, and the standards we have set in practice are paying off,” Gordon said. “It was a good night for us.”      
The women’s soccer team will return to action  Saturday at the Open Cup University Showcase in Decatur, Alabama, where it will look to continue on with its string of excellent play.