The MSU soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Tuesday night as they were defeated 2-0 at the hands of the Samford Bulldogs.
The loss snapped a five game unbeaten streak that included a 1-0 upset over the No. 25 Missouri Tigers a week ago. The win over Mizzou marked MSU’s first victory over a Top 25 team.
What was the difference?
“We didn’t play well at all,” head coach Neil McGuire said. “We came out flat, we were undisciplined, and we didn’t execute the game plan and because of that we allowed Samford to take advantage of us.”
Offensively the Bulldogs produced only six shots on goal. Two of the six clanged off the post.
Samford used an effective defense that kept the Bulldogs off-balance all night.
“It was just one of those times,” junior forward Ngum Suh said. “You just look at it and can’t believe it happened.”
Freshman keeper Luisa Marzotto also saw her consecutive scoreless minutes streak come to a close as Samford midfielder Marion Wagner scored in the 56th minute.
Samford added another goal less than two minutes later for the 2-0 lead.
Marzotto’s scoreless streak placed her as MSU’s all-time leader in consecutive shutout minutes with 425.
“We weren’t really focused on the game tonight because we have been speaking so much about beating Nebraska,” Marzotto said.
Even though our goal was to beat Samford, in the back of our minds we were more focused on Nebraska.”
The Bulldogs will now try to bounce back as they take their talents to the Midwest. MSU will face Nebraska tonight and conclude on Sunday against Iowa State.
“My only desire is to see my team truly want to win every match, every ball, every tackle, and every header,” McGuire said. “If we do that, then our system will be in place for us to be successful.”