The Memphis Tigers and the Lady Bulldogs met for the 10th time, but Tuesday became a night of firsts at the MSU Soccer Field Tuesday night.
Freshmen Kevyn Shelledy netted her first goal in Maroon and White and keeper Stephanie Dallas recorded her first shutout as the Lady Bulldogs defeated Memphis 2-0.
State wasted little time in grabbing the early lead as Karen Sandrik notched her second career goal in the eighth minute of the opening period.
From the far left wing, Sandrik attempted to play the ball into the Memphis box, setting up an opportunity for one of her teammates. Instead, the ball took an awkward curve, hitting off the far post and carromed into the net.
“It was real important to grab the early lead because we have played three games [in five days] and we’re really tired,” Shelledy said. “It was easy once we got the goal to just calm down and play.”
Just 17 minutes later, in the 25th minute, Shelledy would claim her first goal as a Bulldog.
Bulldog defender Sara Moore dribbled the ball down the right side of the field. She then sent a cross into the Memphis box where Shelledy sent a one-time past the diving keeper.
“It was exciting and it gives me goose bumps all over,” Shelledy said. “It’s good to get your first one, but after that I just settled down and played.”
Memphis came out aggressively in the second half, firing 10 shots at the Bulldog defense. Led by Dallas’s four second half saves, the Bulldogs preserved the team’s first shutout of 2004.
“It’s good to get my first shutout starting as a freshman and it’s an exciting time,” Dallas said. “After playing USC and UNC over the weekend and coming out and playing our third game in five days really says a lot about our team.”
Despite being outshot by Memphis, 14-9, the Bulldog defense hardly let the Lady Tigers get into an offensive rhythm. Early in the second half MSU switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 to disrupt the Memphis plan of attack.
The switche proved to be dead on. Memphis never mustered a real scoring threat.
“I’m delighted about the way we approached it tonight,” head coach Neil MacDonald said. “We knew we were going to be struggling from a physical standpoint, but we believed in the system tonight and it worked.”
“It proves that the 4-5-1 and everything that we have been working on defensively is going to be effective for us,” he added.