Entering this past weekend, Mississippi State (1-3-3) was still seeking its first win of the 2005 campaign.
With a few ties and a couple of losses, it seemed this year’s squad was in despair.
With the belief that this weekend would be different than all the rest, MSU was able to prevail victoriously against the visiting Charlotte 49er’s (3-5-0) in a 2-1 decision.
“It’s nice to get the monkey off our back.” Mississippi State head coach Neil MacDonald said. “We have played hard so many times and come up short. It is a credit to our team that we did not give up.”
The win snapped a seven-game winless streak for the Bulldogs that stretched all the way back to a season-ending loss to Vanderbilt in the 2004 SEC Tournament in Auburn, Ala.
While the first half was a defensive standstill, MSU only needed two minutes into the second half of play to capitalize offensively.
Freshman Mariclaire Fancher navigated a pristine pass from Heidi Ondra down the sideline, to later find Betty Ann Casey in empty territory inside the penalty area.
Casey converted the rookie’s pass into a goal, giving State a 1-0 lead.
Casey then setup freshman Marlyce Stein for a two-goal margin.
Not to be denied a scoring chance, the 49er’s ended goalkeeper Emily Meyers’ pitch for her seventh career shutout.
On an ensuing corner kick by Lindsay Beam, the ball was headed by Nikki Dumencich to the foot of Rachel Baer, who found the back of the net for the 49er’s only goal of the day.
Sometimes all it takes is one win to get a season jump started.
Just ask any coach on campus here at MSU and you’ll get the same answer – Winning is contagious.
Hopefully for the Lady Bulldogs, the monkey is off for good as they return to action this weekend to start a four game road trip that begins SEC competition.
MSU visits Knoxville, Tenn., for a 6 p.m. battle with defending SEC Champion Tennessee on Friday, before traveling to Athens, Ga., for a 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon kick-off with Georgia.