With a record breaking packed house of 1,327 attendees present for the 2015 homecoming game, the Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-8-3, 2-4-2 SEC) women’s soccer team lost a conference match to the Florida Gators (11-3-1, 5-2-1 SEC) 2-1. It was a shaky start for the girls, as Florida’s offense came out playing aggressive early.
Going on the offensive quickly, Florida’s Brooke Sharp was assisted by Christen Westphal for an early goal in the seventh minute. Eighteen minutes later, the Gators scored another goal as Savannah Jordan assisted Meg Doughtery Howard to put up a two score lead in the 25th minute.
The Bulldogs didnt find the chemistry they needed to sustain a stable game with the Gator’s momentum. “I wasn’t unhappy with our team by halftime. They had good moments but we needed to stay on course,” Head Coach Aaron Gordon said.
During the second half the Bulldog’s defense picked up heavy momentum with many defensive stops that slowed the Gators down from their powerful performance in the beginning.
Florida took six shots during the second half, only one less than the first half. They also had two corner kicks but couldn’t capitalize off of them. Florida players seemed to become frustrated as their triumph began to slow up with many mistakes and a yellow card from Liz Slattery at the end of the second period.
It was followed up by freshman Carly Mauldin’s yellow card. By the end of the game the foul total from both teams would be 18, seven from the Gators and eleven from the Bulldogs. Goalie Courtney Thompkins played the whole game and though she gave up two goals, she did save four. During the first half, the Bulldogs had chances to score with three corner kicks and two shots. Overall both teams tied for four corner kicks.
As time wound down freshman Kennadi Carbin shot a goal in the mere final seconds of the game at 89:57. She was assisted by freshman Courtney Robicheaux to give Carbin her third goal on the season.
“There were a lot of good things that we can take from tonight’s match,” Gordon said. “We have to keep our focus on the task at hand at get ready for a big showdowon in Baton Rouge.”
The soccer team will take on LSU during a two-game road trip in Baton Rouge 7p.m. Friday then have another conference face off with Alabama the following day.
