After finishing the regular season with a record of 7-1-3, the MSU men’s club soccer team competed for a conference championship in last weekend’s Southeastern Collegiate Soccer League tournament in Tupelo. Although the Bulldogs lost in the championship, they qualified for the nationals
The tournament placed all 16 SCSL teams into four different brackets to compete in a round robin format. The team with the best record in their bracket would advance to the following round. Eastern Kentucky, Mississippi, and Samford completed the Bulldog’s bracket.
MSU opened play on Friday night against archrival Mississippi. Nathan Lott’s first half goal off a Matt Hood crossing pass was all the Bulldogs needed. MSU cruised to a 3-0 victory.
“We played very well,” said Lott. “One of our most valuable players got hurt in the first five minutes, but we did what we had to do to make it to nationals.”
The Bulldogs returned to action on Saturday to face Samford in their second game of bracket play. In a game similar to Friday’s, State pounded Samford in route to a 4-0 win.
By beating Samford 4-0 just hours before, the Bulldogs headed into their final bracket game against Eastern Kentucky already knowing they would be advancing. With that in mind, the Bulldogs rested their starters in preparation for the semi-finals.
As the starters watched from the sidelines, they saw a Bulldog reserve team battle Eastern Kentucky to a 2-2 tie.
“I thought we had a very good showing against Eastern Kentucky,” said MSU keeper Top Gregg. “It was good that we gave the starters a rest because we knew that our next game would be extremely tough no matter who we played.”
As one of only four teams remaining, the Bulldogs returned to action on Sunday to face the Kentucky Wildcats in the semi-finals.
Lott gave the Bulldogs a first half lead as he scored his second goal of the tournament. From nearly 35 yards, Lott sent a left-footed blast just past the diving keeper.
With a 1-0 lead on Lott’s goal, the Bulldog defense shut down the Kentucky offense in route to their third shutout of the tournament and a trip to the finals.
“The game against Kentucky was awesome,” said Gregg. “We had beaten them earlier in the year, and we had the confidence to go out there and do it again.”
The Auburn Tigers awaited the Bulldogs in Sunday afternoon’s championship. Auburn was the heavy favorite to win the tournament as they had already received a bid for the national tournament before the SCSL tournament.
From the first whistle until the final three, Auburn showed the Bulldogs exactly why they were favored to win with a controlling 3-0 victory.
“The first four games we played with good togetherness, unity, and we worked as one,” said midfielder Sam Fairbrother. “I think the last game we didn’t really have the depth and we just kind of ran out of gas.”
By placing second, State earned an invitation to the national tournament to be held in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on November 20-23.
“We only have a week and a half to prepare for the national tournament,” said Lott. “We just have to keep practicing and running and get in better shape because fitness will probably be the main issue.”