State Soccer Rolls Through Spring Opener
May 25, 2016 | Soccer
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The SEC Western Division champion Mississippi State soccer team rolled through their opening spring weekend, winning two and tieing two, at the GSC/Fury College Challenge in Memphis this past weekend.
The Bulldogs, who are coming off a record-breaking fall campaign, got five goals from the feet of the scoring tandem of Amy Van Zandt and Jessi Moore, while forging a tie on a goal from fellow freshman Ngum Suh. Goalkeeper Krystal Werges allowed just one goal in four games at the tournament.
"This weekend proved to be very useful in assessing where we are at this point in time," McGuire said. "We are certainly moving forward and showed a lot of confidence in each match. We tried some new things and tested our players patience a little with some new formations and they responded extremely well. Spring has gone very well thus far with each player doing what needs to be done. We are maturing rapidly, and this is a good sign."
Van Zandt and Moore (2) combined for three goals in a 3-0 victory over St. Louis in the opening game of the tournament and the Bulldogs followed the victory with a hard-fought 1-1 draw with the JB Marine club organization. Following a 0-0 tie with Oklahoma State from the Big 12 in the next contest, State closed out tournament play on two goals from Van Zandt in a 2-0 victory over Ooltewah FC, which hails from Quebec, Canada.
The Bulldogs will resume spring tournament action March 23 in Stone Mountain, Ga., at the GSA Friendlies against North Carolina State, South Carolina and the Concorde Club Organization. The Bulldogs will play in front of the home crowd in an Alumni game set for April 6, which falls on Saturday of Super Bulldog Week.
All spring soccer games are of the scrimmage variety, therefore they are not official and do not count toward the overall standings.
