In the opening weekend of Mississippi State soccer, the Bulldogs dropped two extremely close home games to the University of South Alabama and Murray State University.
On Friday, the Jaguars of South Alabama traveled to Starkville for the opening game of the season. The Bulldogs played the game outstanding offensively, but could not capitalize on scoring opportunities. MSU had many chances to score, taking 20 total shots with seven of them being on goal.
Defensively, they held the visiting Jaguars to 11 total shots and three shots on goal. Sophomore goal keeper Tanya de Souza played an incredible game, blocking many shots including a key save in the first half off of a header.
The Bulldogs made a run close to the end of the first half when Kennadi Carbin crossed a ball to Payton Gruenewald who shot the ball too high for the goal. The Jaguars then capitalized in the second half of the game when South Alabama’s Ashlynn Jones scored in the 81st minute to make the score 1-0.
That would be the score until the end of the game as the Bulldogs started off the season with a loss. MSU showed a strong effort, but just could not put the ball in the back of the net.
In the latter game of the weekend, Mississippi State hosted Murray State on Sunday. This was the opening game of the season for the visiting Racers, and they made the best they could out of it.
In a game that ended early in the 76th minute, the Bulldogs outshot the Racers (8-5) and shots on goal (5-4), but could not pull everything together as they lost 2-1.
MSU began very slow, and allowed a goal in the 19th minute of the game off of a turnover. Murray State’s returning scorer netted the ball that pushed the Racers ahead.
Soon after, the Bulldogs responded by tying the game in the 33rd minute with the help of freshman Kiley Martens’ first collegiate goal.
The second half started off slow, but in the 61st minute, Courtney Robicheaux committed a foul in the box and received a red card. This resulted in a penalty kick for the opposing Racers. Taylor Richerson scored on a penalty kick that soared right past de Souza for the game winning goal.
In the 76th minute, the game was halted by a lightning strike and was finally called early after an hour of waiting to resume. The loss dropped Mississippi State to 0-2 and the visiting Murray State started off their season 1-0.
The Bulldogs will be back in action this weekend; traveling to Florida to play against Florida Gulf Coast at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. They will then travel to South Florida for a morning game on Sunday at 9:30 a.m.
