Southern Mississippi (1-2) used a pair of second-half goals to erase a 2-1 halftime deficit, then used stiff defense down the stretch to stifle a handful of Mississippi State (1-2) scoring chances, to slip by the Bulldogs, 3-2, Tuesday afternoon at the Mississippi State Soccer Field. Amy Van Zandt and Heather Ammann both scored goals for Mississippi State, with Van Zandt leading the way offensively with four shots on goal.
Sam Schwenke and Ngum Suh added assists for the Maroon and White in the defeat. Lindsay Canham rattled off six shots, four on goal, for the visitors.
“Southern Miss beat us in everything today,” Mississippi State head coach Neil McGuire said. “They were quicker, had more passion and they were more organized. Technically and tactically, we were a step slow in every position.”
Mississippi State lit up the scoreboard first, using a perfect through ball from Schwenke to Van Zandt in the 17th (16:29) minute to take a 1-0 lead, but Southern Mississippi answered nearly eleven minutes later (27:11) on Tricia Wiles’ on-target shot that hit top shelf from about 25 yards away.
The Maroon and White stifled a few Golden Eagle scoring chances in the next 10 ticks, then retook the lead in the 42nd (41:27) minute on Ammann’s shot from 35 yards out.
Katie Adams, Southern’s leading scorer entering the contest, capitalized on an early second half scoring chance to knot the score back up in the 50th (49:06) minute, then the Golden Eagles took their first lead of the game in
the 57th (56:49) minute on a Katie Randolph header in front of the net.
State got scoring chances in spurts down the stretch, with each being stifled by luck or an opportunistic USM defense. Van Zandt took on and won a challenge with Southern Miss goalkeeper Leslie Schoeplein in the 83rd (82:09) minute, but her shot hit the right post and her rebound went high.
Van Zandt, again, got a chance just more than six minutes later (88:17) but a Southern Miss defender tipped her close-range shot wide left.
Mississippi State will again be in action on Friday afternoon when the Bulldogs suit up to host Northwestern State in a 4 p.m. contest at the Mississippi State Soccer Field. Admission to all 2002 MSU home games is free of charge.