While the Mississippi State University’s women’s intercollegiate squad flashed success last week on the MSU soccer field, the MSU men’s club soccer team bolstered its record to 2-0 on the season with a 3-1 win over Memphis University on Sunday. Two goals from Austin Schneiderman and another from Daniel Garraway were enough to end the game victorious for the home side, which won the previous weekend against Southern Mississippi 6-1.
Although the Bulldogs celebrated the victory, the match was also plagued with a couple of injuries for both teams. MSU saw its starting goalkeeper Tyler Bozeman succumb to a head injury in the second half, while Memphis had a midfielder go down with a knee injury as well.
Captain Michael Burgess was very pleased with the performance of the team as a whole and praised the squad’s response after going down early in the first half.
“We started out a little slow. They got a goal up on us, and then we came back and started to knock the ball around real well in the second half,” he said. “We ended up winning 3-1 and it was a good game. I thought we played well overall.”
The game played at the MSU intramural fields started off quickly for the Bulldogs on the offensive side of the field, as Tyler Morrison was able to have two attempts on goal within the first 10 minutes of the game. Both chances went narrowly wide, but they set the tempo early in favor of MSU.
At roughly the 15-minute mark of the first half, Memphis was able to get a goal against the run of play when the ball was scored into the right side of the net, off of a nicely worked sequence down the left side of the field. The goal rallied the Bulldogs as MSU used this Tiger goal to strike an answer.
Ten minutes following the opening goal, MSU found the equalizer after Schneiderman was played through on goal and was able to gracefully place the ball in the upper right hand corner. This goal was created off momentum, as MSU barely missed converting on a couple of chances in the prior minutes leading up to the goal.
From this point forward, MSU went on to dominate the rest of the first half, as just 10 minutes later Schneiderman again found himself one-on-one with the Memphis keeper.
However, this time he was able to sidestep around the goalie and easily knock the ball into the open net to secure the 2-1 lead going into halftime.
Bulldog forward Tyler Morrison echoed the sentiments of Burgess and said the team seeks to improve moving forward.
“We came out today and was passing really well, and we’re getting better as the season moves on,” he said. “Our finishing is getting better, as Austin had two great goals today and were just looking forward to next week.”
Moving into the second half, MSU started to take command of the match. Within the first 20 minutes of the second half, State attempted four shots on goal and did not allow Memphis to even have one of its own.
MSU’s key injury  occurred shortly later as Bulldog goalkeeper Bozeman was run into by a Memphis player as he was trying to catch a fifty-fifty ball. This resulted in Bozeman obtaining a head injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the match. Matt Pensa was able to fill the void as he did not surrender any goals for the remainder of the match.
To solidify the outcome, MSU added one more goal before the end of the match, when Burgess was able to play a nice ball into the box, where Garraway was able to out jump the keeper to head the ball into the goal. This all but sealed the Bulldog victory and capped off an impressive win for the home side.
MSU midfielder Parker Hoyt summed up the win in a short and sweet manner by expressing his delight for the way the season has begun.
“It just feels good to get the win and get the season off to a positive start,” he said. “Two games down and two wins.”
The MSU club soccer team will look to add to its early season momentum as it welcomes the University of Alabama to campus next Friday at 6:30 p.m. The game will be held at the intramural fields and is free to attend for anyone who wishes to come out and support the team