The Mississippi State soccer team began a five-game road swing through the SEC last weekend, hoping to convert its recent improved play into wins. However, MSU will have to wait another week to make an attempt at its first conference win in two seasons, dropping a 3-0 decision to Tennessee and a 2-1 heartbreaker to Georgia over the weekend.
The weather once again proved to be a nemesis of the Bulldogs in Knoxville, when the Vols hosted MSU on a stormy Friday night. MSU gave up an early goal 15 minutes into the match, but responded with tight defense the rest of the period.
However, a 50-minute weather delay between periods broke the Bulldogs’ momentum, and UT responded better on its home turf once play resumed, scoring two quick goals at 51 and 56 minutes into the match before State could regain its composure.
Head coach Neil Macdonald said it was a learning experience for his team.
“Friday was a tough game for us,” he said. “We had a long delay at halftime because of weather and [UT] responded better than we did in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. It was a really physical encounter, and our young team learned a lot.”
One of the stalwarts of the back line, junior defender Leanna Baldner, who had played every minute this season and the last 11 games of last season, went down with an injury.
“Leanna was stamped on during Friday’s game and was really hurting with badly bruised ribs,” Macdonald said. “We had to wait for a doctor to clear her, and she battled through the pain for us in the second half.”
Senior defender Hannah Tyler said the coach told her he had confidence that she could lead the substitutes by example.
“Leanna and I are comfortable back there, so when we had to change it up, it was an adjustment,” she said. “He just told me, ‘This is your time to step up, this is your line, so control it and they’ll learn from you.'”
State finished the night with 10 shots and five on goal, to UT’s 23 shots. Senior goalkeeper Taryn Holland had three saves.
MSU continued on through the SEC East on Sunday with an afternoon matchup against No. 13 Georgia at Athens.
State jumped on UGA early, with an unassisted goal by junior forward Kat Walsh 16 minutes in catching the keeper by surprise. MSU held Georgia down for nearly the rest of the match, with Holland swatting away numerous shots en route to a season-high 10 saves.
But eventually, UGA proved why it is one of the elite SEC teams and scored two quick goals as the match wound down. MSU was unable to get back in shooting range to even the score, finishing with only five shots – outgunned again by UGA’s 22 shots.
Macdonald said his team made a great effort, but just could not hold up the pace against the Georgia assault.
“We played them very well and battled hard,” he said. “Their class and work rate simply wore us down in the last 10 minutes.”
Macdonald said one of MSU’s biggest problems right now is weather-related. The Bulldogs have been forced to practice in the Palmiero facility more often than not the last several weeks because of rain, but it is not the best substitute for soccer.
“Palmiero is not nearly as wide as a soccer field. So it affects all our angles and distances for running and for passing,” he said. “It’s not realistic to the game. I feel the fact that we have not trained on our field in nearly three weeks is starting to have an adverse effect on our level of play.”
Low scores have also been a quandary. Macdonald said he will be working the forwards and midfielders hard this week to develop more attacking ability since Walsh has been the primary offensive threat in recent games.
“We are going to work a lot with Kat and the other strikers and attacking midfielders,” he said. “We have to get more out of the front line, and others need to start putting up some numbers.”
Sophomore forward Tarah Henderson said the team will have to work on passing and moving the ball in practice this week.
“[Walsh] is kind of like the bulk of our offense,” she said. “She’s really good. But it could be more even.”
Henderson said MSU will be working on pressing the ball from the opposite side to take pressure off Walsh.
MSU resumes its road schedule this weekend against Arkansas and another top SEC team, LSU.