This weekend saw the opening of Mississippi State University’s women’s soccer season with matches against both Iowa State and Cincinnati to start their campaign. The atmosphere at both games was upbeat with record fan support, as the match against Iowa State on Friday saw the setting of the school record for attendance. A little over 1,000 fans came out to support the Bulldogs, which bested the previous best of 935, set against Florida last season. 
However, the energetic excitement from the fans was not enough to carry the Bulldogs to victory in either match. MSU suffered a 5-1 setback Friday night against Iowa State and a 1-0 loss Sunday to Cincinnati. 
Most of Iowa State’s success came in an 18-minute period, at the latter end of the first half. The stretch saw Iowa State score three goals, two of which were on corners, and create a series of other chances as well. 
The ISU goals started in the 25th minute when Margaret Powers was able to head in a cross from the right hand side. This was immediately followed by another goal for the Cyclones just one minute later, when Koree Willer was able to tap in a deflection on a corner to make the score 2-0. The last goal of the half then came with just two minutes to play, as Adalie Schmidt one-timed the ball into the net, off of the Iowa State corner.  
The second half started on a positive note, as MSU came out with some edge to their play. The first 10 minutes to the second half saw freshman Mallory Eubanks convert a cross from senior Shannen Jainudeen into a goal to make the score 3-1. The momentum was broken in the 59th minute of the second half, when Schmidt was able to kick the ball into an empty net after MSU goalkeeper Rhylee DeCrane wasn’t able to handle the rebound seconds before. ISU was able to top off their impressive performance in the 70th minute with a long range effort from Maggie Bruckman that deflected off of the right post and into the goal.  Even though the final score was 5-1 in favor of the Cyclones, MSU finished with the advantage in shots on goal 14 to 12, and the opportunities were to be had. MSU also saw different sections of the game in which they controlled, but ultimately the Dogs were unable to put it all together.
MSU sought to rebound against Cincinnati. The match against the Bearcats was heavily contested and saw some physical play from both sides. Overall, the game was very evenly matched, as the statistics for both teams were nearly identical. Cincinnati won the shots on goal battle 11-10 and also claimed a slight advantage in the saves category, 5-4.  After a very quiet first half from both teams, both teams started to threaten on goal throughout the second half. The breakthrough came in the 67th minute for Cincinnati. Katy Couperus headed the ball into the upper right hand side of the goal off a corner kick to give Cincinnati the 1-0 advantage. MSU saw several opportunities to equalize late in the match, but nothing would find its way into the back of the net for the Bulldogs. 
Head Coach Aaron Gordon said he was encouraged with his team’s play on Sunday even though the results were not in their favor. 
“I think the main thing I take away from our team is we played hard. We were on the wrong side of the scoreboard for a lot of reasons that had nothing to do with how we played,” he said.
Gordon also commended his team for bouncing back from a rough outing against Iowa State on Friday night, to put on a good performance against the Bearcats Sunday. 
“(Sunday), to come back and have a lot of spirit was good,” he said. “The team was gutted after the game today because they played hard and that’s what a coach wants from his team, that they’re hurting, it shows they care.”  
Sophomore Jamila Coner said the team showed great team unity and overall passing efficiency.
“I think we passed well, defended well and got into the tackles really well. We work as a team really well because we’re very close,” she said. “We learned from the summer as well as the preseason on how to work together, fight for each other, and I think we’ve done that really well so far.” 
The sentiments were echoed by freshman Mallory Eubanks, who also pointed to defending set pieces as a weakness the squad encountered over the weekend. 
“I think we played as a team and our weakness were defending set pieces. Moving forward we’re going to work on everything,” Eubanks said. “Working collectively is one of our biggest strengths, and I think that if we keep working on that the chances will come and we can start finishing those chances as well.” 
MSU  will travel to Furman Thursday before returning home Sunday to take on Southern Mississippi at 6 p.m. at the Mississippi State Soccer Field.