Fresh off one of its best defensive weekends of the campaign, the Mississippi State soccer team (4-9-1, 1-2-1 SEC) will close out its final roadtrip of the regular season this weekend as the Bulldogs take on Vanderbilt (4-7, 2-3) and Kentucky (7-6, 2-3) in a pair of SEC East dogfights. The Bulldogs are coming off an impressive weekend in which they held two of the SEC’s top scoring offenses to a combined 22 shots. Against Auburn on Friday, MSU held the Tigers to a paltry eight shots in a 2-0 loss, then came close to completely shutting down the nation’s third-leading scoring offense in a 1-1 tie at Alabama. The Crimson Tide’s Dawn Nash, who ranks among the nation’s leading scorers with 27 points, was held scoreless in 110 minutes of action.
The Bulldogs, who have grappled with narrow losses this season, earned the distinction of coming back against the Crimson Tide, scoring a late goal in the 70th minute to knot the score back up at one apiece.
Defensively, State has become more sound than it has ever been as the Bulldogs are on pace to finish with their third-lowest goals against average in school history. The Maroon and White have allowed just less than 12 shots per contest (11.57) this season, marking the best defensive effort of any State team in team lore. State has also allowed a collective 1.74 goals per game due to the outstanding efforts of its goalkeeper tandem, Courtney Hubert and Krystal Werges. The two will carry a combined .764 save percentage into this weekend to complement 71 saves.
“Our practices have been good this week,” said Mississippi State head coach Neil McGuire. “We have to continue to build on our defensive understanding, and look to play more as a unit in the defensive end. We are much improved, but have things still to achieve.”
State will face a pair of opponents this weekend that, much like itself, has gotten stiff defense thus far into the 2002 campaign. Vanderbilt has allowed more than two goals just once this season in a 3-0 loss to Florida at home and will carry a collective 1.32 GAA into its contest with the Bulldogs. Offensively, Vanderbilt is led by junior midfielder Michelle Bruntlett’s three goals, but Bruntlett has been supported by teammates Kat Carroll and Erin Higgins, both of whom have put away a pair of goals for the Commodores this season. Vanderbilt takes an average of just more than 13 shots per game (13.82).
Kentucky, which had been a pain in MSU’s side until the Bulldogs snapped a three-game skid to the Wildcats with a 2-1 overtime victory last season in Starkville, will present an equally difficult task. UK has already posted three shutouts this season, including a 3-0 blanking of perennial SEC powerhouse Florida in Lexington, Ky., two weeks ago. The Wildcats get their dominance in the second half, scoring 14 of their 18 total goals (78 percent) in the final period. The ‘Cats are led by all-SEC forward Elizabeth Ramsey who has scored 17 points this season on six goals and five assists.
“Each and every game is important in the SEC title race,” McGuire said. “There is a great deal of parity at present between teams in this conference, with one goal possibly separating a team from going to the SEC tournament and the NCAA’s or staying home. This is a big weekend for us all.”
Following this weekend’s action on the road, State will return home next weekend as the Bulldogs embark on a regular season-ending four-game homestand against both nationally-ranked Tennessee and Georgia at the Mississippi State Soccer Field. Admission to all 2002 Mississippi State soccer home games is free of charge.