Bulldogs Recap Best Regular-Season Finish In 16 Years

STARKVILLE, Miss. – A new era of Mississippi State soccer got off to a solid start in the 2017 regular season, with the Bulldogs now on the cusp of reaching their first-ever NCAA Tournament.

Coming off half a decade without a winning season, newly-minted head coach Tom Anagnost started off a new era of Bulldog soccer with State going unbeaten in its first seven contests leading up to conference play. This was the best start by a first-year head coach in program history.

MSU, currently ranked 14th in the Southeast region by United Soccer Coaches, has earned multiple results against ranked opponents this year. On Aug. 24, the Bulldogs earned one of their biggest victories of the non-conference slate at Louisiana Tech, ranked ninth in the Southern Region.

Nearly a month later, the Bulldogs held Auburn—currently ranked sixth in the Southeast Region—to a 0-0 draw, out-chancing them behind a tenacious defensive performance. Also in conference play, the Dawgs were also able to tie Ole Miss and LSU—teams ranked 10th and 15th in the Southeast Region, respectively. The Bulldogs wrapped up the regular season beating San Jose State—currently ranked 12th in the West Region—in Starkville.

Bulldog Firsts…

First winning season since 2012 and best win percentage since 2001
Mallory Eubanks became State's first SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Catalina Perez earned First Team All-SEC honors, giving the Bulldogs their first first-teamer and first goalkeeper selected to the All-SEC team since 2003.
MaKayla Waldner joined Eubanks on the All-SEC Second Team, giving the Bulldogs three All-SEC selections for the first time in program history.
In Week 10, Perez and Brooke McKee earned SEC weekly awards, giving the Bulldogs two Players of the Week in the same week for the first time in program history.

Milestones…

MSU's current NCAA RPI of 37 is the highest in program history and its first time in the Top 50.
MSU's adjusted non-conference RPI is very high. It is well above the threshold that teams over the last 10 years have always received at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs finished the regular season tied for 10th in the SEC—the highest-ranked conference in the country. This is State's best finish in conference play since 2004.
State's win percentage of .611 is the program's best since 2001 and is third-best in program history.
The Maroon and White found the back of the net 32 times this season, the most goals scored by an MSU team since 2001. MSU's 1.78 goals per game average was also the fourth-most in school history and the most since 2001.
The Bulldogs displayed stingy defense throughout the season, allowing 19 goals (1.00 GA/game), the least since 2003 and the second-lowest total in program history.
MSU also topped NCAA tournament-bound and Missouri Valley Conference champion Missouri State 2-1 in the second match of the season. In the victory, State outshot the Bears 11-4 and won the corner kick battle 7-2.
On Sept. 10, State held eventual Sun Belt regular-season and tournament champion South Alabama to a 1-1 draw. The Bulldogs dominated offensively, outshooting the Jaguars 24-10 while out-cornering them 8-1.
In 18 matches, the Bulldogs never lost by more than one goal and had a chance to win every contest.
State owns seven results against Top-100 foes, including three victories against teams ranked in the Top 100 in the RPI. Against current RPI Top-75 squads, the Bulldogs grabbed four ties, with two of those coming against RPI Top-50 opponents.

Big Moments…

On Sept. 24, the Bulldogs went on the road to face a tough test at LSU. State was down 2-1 with under four minutes remaining in regulation when MaKayla Waldner drilled a fade-away header to knot things up and eventually force the draw. The result was MSU's first point against the Tigers since 2004. In the draw, the Bulldogs dominated offensively, outshooting the Tigers 12-8 and out-cornering them 10-4.
On Oct. 22, the Bulldogs earned their first point against Ole Miss since 2012, forcing a draw against the Rebels, who held the nation's No. 25 RPI at the time. State had more chances, and more dangerous chances, than the Rebels—outshooting them 20-17, with 10 of the Bulldogs' shots being on target compared to Ole Miss's 7.
State defeated Mountain West conference champion San Jose State, who currently owns the No. 57 spot in the RPI rankings.

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Mississippi State University Athletics

Bulldogs Recap Best Regular-Season Finish In 16 Years

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Mallory Eubanks

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Catalina Perez

MaKayla Waldner

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