MSU Scores Four Goals In Pair of Exhibition Wins
March 05, 2016 | Soccer
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Propelled by four goals on the day, the Mississippi State soccer team downed Southern Miss and Louisiana Monroe at the MSU Soccer Field to kick off the spring slate.
Saturday's first game resulted in a 1-0 shutout against USM, before MSU came back to defeat ULM 3-2 in a late-afternoon thriller.
“We played pretty much how I expected today, in terms of spring rustiness,” head coach Aaron Gordon said. “Two wins are good, especially with how we had to come back against ULM, who is a feisty team. These games give us a reference with where we are now and where we want to be in the 2016 season.”
The Golden Eagles and Bulldogs would play evenly until the 18th minute of Saturday's first match, as Mallory Eubanks would connect off a pass from Lauryn Bruffett and Ariana Holmes for the score to go ahead. Goalies Tanya de Souza and Rhylee DeCrane earned the combined shutout between the posts, as the Bulldogs held on for the 1-0 win.
The second game was a polar opposite of the first contest, with a total of four goals being scored by both teams in the final 20 minutes. The Bulldogs trailed the Hawks 1-0 going into the half, after ULM's Cke'Lana Caesar scored on a header in the seventh minute.
MSU's Carly Mauldin and ULM's Dazalla Kelsey would trade goals in the second half, bringing the score to 2-1 in ULM's favor. Holmes would respond by nailing a shot from near the midfield line to knot the score at two a piece with only 14 minutes remaining. In the waning seconds of the game Jamila Coner pushed in a goal from a yard out to cap the 3-2 comeback for the Bulldogs, closing out the day with a pair of wins.
“After the last goal, I wanted to us to score again because I didn't want to finish the weekend with a win and a tie,” Coner said. “I was determined to score and I basically shoved around until I got on the ball to score.”
Four different players scored goals for State on Saturday, while Holmes led the team with two assists on the afternoon. A total of 20 players made an appearance in Saturday's games, with mid-year enrollee Ciara Donnelly seeing her first action as a Bulldog in the first match of the day.
MSU hits the road for the next three exhibitions before capping the spring season at home on April 15 against Samford.
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