All the Bulldogs have worked tirelessly for a victorious weekend. Even the club sports got wind of the trend and had their own sweep.

Mississippi State club soccer took on the University of Alabama in Starkville at the recreational complex and within the first five minutes, they stayed up.

Forward Courtney Orlando took the first goal. After the momentum started, it did not stop, especially with Alabama bringing the heat.

“They’re our toughest competition, and so we haven’t beat them in the past two years, and it was really exciting to beat them 2-0 today,” said Orlando.

Orlando has been playing soccer since she was four years old, but joined MSU Women’s Club Soccer as a sophomore, playing her last two years of her undergraduate career with the team.

The Dawgs worked hard, and a huge factor of their win came from the chemistry amongst the players. Orlando expressed how the connection on and off the field is valued by the whole team.

“We are all super close, there is no drama on the team,” Orlando said. “We all want each other to be better and we want to play our best, and I think you can really see that because we are all trying to encourage each other — we’re a team of best friends.”

Alabama came on to the team hard, and although they were down, they did not let up. However, the maroon and white momentum of winning volleyball, soccer and football all weekend needed to have icing on the cake, so this club sport was ready to dominate.

With this game being against a tough opponent, fans came to watch what the Bulldogs had to face. One of these fans was former president Kayla Young.

“…I wanted to come back and watch my old teammates and support club soccer,” Young said.

The team is now lead by five executive members, including two co-presidents who also help coach their peers. These presidents are senior kinesiology major Abby Johnson and junior nursing major Brooke Boutwell.

Boutwell has been with the team for two and a half years. She shared her thoughts on the weekend, noting the team’s chemistry.

“I thought it went really well,” Boutwell said. “I thought we connected really well.”

The communication within the team was evident throughout the game. Constant talking, passing and coaching each other helped them secure the victory.

The first half was left 1-0 in favor of the Bulldogs, but with around ten minutes left on the clock, another goal was scored by player Payton Hurst.

“It was our first game after two practices,” Boutwell said. “I was really proud of us. I thought we worked together and it was really cool to see the new players get comfortable on the field.”

After only a few times working together before the first game, the team worked together to start off a strong season. New players were announced just two weeks ago, so there was not a lot of time to prepare for such a big opponent.

“It’s been really cool to just to be in this position and able to lead the team through practice and just see players get to know each other and work on the field because that’s what it’s about,” Boutwell said.

MSU Women’s Club Soccer still has three home games and three away games, so their season is just getting started and has along way to go to secure a successful season.

The team posts all updates and information on their Instagram account @msuwclubsoccer. They will be back Sunday to take on Auburn University.