Despite surrendering a first half goal, the Mississippi State soccer team (4-9-1, 1-2-1 SEC) showed its unrelenting behavior the rest of the way out, scoring a late second half goal to forge a 1-1 double overtime draw with Alabama (10-3-1, 1-2-1) Sunday afternoon at the Alabama Soccer Complex. Jessi Moore scored her sixth goal of the campaign and paced the Bulldogs with five shots, while Heather Ammann tallied 61 quality minutes off the bench and collected her first assist of the season for the Maroon and White. Kylie Boyd scored the lone goal for the regionally-ranked Crimson Tide.
It was State’s first tie since a double overtime deadlock with cross-state nemesis Mississippi on Oct. 25, 2000. The teams combined for 43 fouls, 26 of which came from the homestanding Crimson Tide, and five yellow cards.
“Today’s game is an indication of what this team can achieve when we play together,” said Mississippi State head coach Neil McGuire. “Alabama is a fiercely competitive team and I was very happy with our players’ effort against them.”
State controlled much of the opening 20 minutes of play, denying Alabama a quality shot on the Maroon and White nets until the 23rd minute (22:18) when the Bulldogs narrowly escaped a couple quickfire shots from Alabama’s Kim Zarzour and Dawn Nash, respectively. State, based largely on the play of starting goalkeeper Courtney Hubert, continued to dodge close calls until the 40th minute (39:48) when Boyd finished a scoring play with a rocket shot far post that gave the hosts a 1-0 lead heading into the break.
With the wind in their face, State came out of the halftime gates on fire, however, continuing with their gameplan that confused the Crimson Tide for a majority of the game and forced Alabama to commit untimely fouls. MSU got off the first three shots of the game and didn’t allow the Tide a quality shot until the 63rd minute (62:06) when Dawn Nash’s header ricocheted off of the crossbar and out of danger. With time winding down, State created a simple offensive opportunity for itself when Ammann served a pass to Moore who chested down the ball and hit a shot into the upper right corner over the outstretched fingers of Tider goalkeeper Courtney Rogers to knot the score back up at one apiece.
Mississippi State will return to action this weekend as the Bulldogs close out their final roadtrip of the season with a pair of games against SEC Eastern Division foes. MSU will head to Nashville on Friday for a twilight date against Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. EST before traveling to Lexington on Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest against Kentucky.