Tonight the Mississippi State soccer team finishes its season when the Bulldogs (5-14, 0-10 SEC) host Ole Miss (6-9-3, 4-5-1 SEC).
The game is also senior night for the Bulldogs and will serve as the last game in Maroon and White for Mary Kate Ayers, Mariclaire Fancher, Bethany Frazier, Anna Goblirsch, Meredith Jacobson and Kevyn Shelledy.
“[Frazier] said to me on Saturday, ‘This is my last one, there will be a lot of lasts this week,’ so it is definitely hitting them,” MSU head coach Neil Macdonald said. “They are realizing it. Obviously we have had a quality class, they are going to be missed.”
Among those players, Frazier stands fifth all-time in MSU history with 11 assists. She led the team in assists in 2006 and 2007 and is one shy of team-leading Mary Claire Scurria in 2008.
“I think everyone is ready for the Ole Miss game. Everyone is excited,” Frazier said. “The fact that it is senior night makes everyone want to play that much harder. We all want to go out with a win, especially with it being against Ole Miss and at home on Halloween. It all comes together.”
This Bulldog senior class has seen mixed results against the school’s rival, but hasn’t managed to score on the Rebels since a 2005 1-1 tie in Oxford. The Bulldogs have dropped the last two in the series 1-0 and 2-0.
The Rebels come to Starkville sporting senior Amy Bayles, SEC Offensive Player of the Week. The Florence, Ala., native netted twice on the Rebels’ senior day last Sunday against Kentucky to preserve the Rebels post-season hopes. She also created five attempts on goal in a 0-0 tie with Vanderbilt.
“I’ve grown up with some of the girls who play for Ole Miss,” Madison native Frazier said. “So that’s an even more challenge. You always want to beat your friends.”
Frazier and Greenwood native Fancher are the only Mississippi-born players in the 2009 class.
Shelledy completes her collegiate career tonight along with fellow Tomball, Texas native Jacobson. ”
“I don’t think it will hit most of us when the last whistle is blown,” Shelledy said of her class and its last game.
Shelledy, a fifth-year senior, has been a stalwart of the Bulldog line-up since 2004. When an injury kept her out of the South Carolina and Florida games this year, it marked only the second and third games she has missed since joining the Bulldogs.
Frazier looks to finish the season on a high note.
“We have just had one of the toughest seasons that we have had,” Frazier said. “With it being the last game, everyone is going to lay it on the line because we really have nothing to lose. We all just want to go out and play for each other and get a win. That will be extra motivation.”
The Bulldogs will get extra motivation knowing that a win will most likely keep the Rebels out of the SEC tournament next weekend in Orange Beach, Ala.
“For me it is about Mississippi State. It’s not about Ole Miss,” Macdonald said. “We are just going to go out there and try to win the game for us. The Magnolia Cup is at stake, and a win is the only think that brings it back to Starkville.”
The Magnolia Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the annual season-ending competition between the Bulldogs and Rebels.
Macdonald looks to prove that the Bulldogs are the the best team in Mississippi. “We have already beaten Southern Miss, we have beaten [Mississippi Valley State]. We have to go prove we are the top team in the state.”
As the Bulldogs prepare to bid adieu to six seniors, Macdonald said he has lined up 10 commitments for the 2009 freshman class.
“Recruiting has gone fantasticly well,” Macdonald said. “We are delighted with it, we have all our commitments for 2009 and we have two or three for 2010 as well.”