It was a day of frustration for Mississippi State University (7-3-3, 1-3-2 SEC) as the Bulldogs suffered their second home loss in a row after a 0-1 final against the University of Kentucky (7-8-0, 2-4-0 SEC) on Sunday afternoon.
MSU had chances throughout the afternoon, but were never able to find the back of the net against UK keeper Evangeline Soucie, who had five saves. The Bulldogs outscored the Wildcats in both goal attempts and shots on goals, but failed to outscore the other team in the stat mattering the most: goals scored.
MSU took 17 shots compared UK’s nine. Five of MSU’s shots were on goal, where only three of Kentucky’s were.
Head coach Tom Anagnost had few words about the loss, putting the blame on himself.
“Today was not our day, and in the end,” Anagnost said. “I take responsibility for the loss, and hopefully we can learn from it.”
The Bulldogs now have a week to recover, with their next game scheduled for Oct. 15. They will travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide (8-5-1, 0-4-1 SEC).
Anagnost said the team will try to focus on resting over the course of the next week.
“We are just stepping away; we’re going to give them a few days off,” Anagnost said. “It is healthy mentally to just rest and step away. We’ve got to regroup, we’ve lost two very tough games. This one was tough because there was a lot of stuff in the box, a lot of occurrences in the box and we didn’t capitalize. They capitalized on one and we didn’t.”
Alabama, who plays Auburn on October 10th, is coming off a three game losing streak themselves, but Anagnost said they still have to be prepared to face a good Alabama team.
“They are just really good, a great position team, knock around the ball well, great players all over the field,” Anagnost said. “They beat Florida State, which is a top 20 team.”
ESPNU will broadcast the game. The game is set for a 5 p.m. kickoff.