Stirring Up A Shutout
September 07, 2021 | Soccer, Joel Coleman
When the Bulldogs blank an opponent on the pitch, it takes everyone.
STARKVILLE – When it comes to Southeastern Conference goalkeepers, Mississippi State's Maddy Anderson is among the best. She's the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week and author of three shutouts already this season – a total that sits second in the league.
Don't get it mistaken though. For as skilled as Anderson is, there's plenty of credit to go around any time MSU blanks the opposition. Yes, Anderson is typically at the forefront, but every single Bulldog has a role to play to keep foes off the scoreboard.
"It's front to back," State head coach James Armstrong said. "All 11 players have got to be completely in tune with each other and paying attention to the details and understand their roles and responsibilities. Maddy is obviously a big piece of that because she can see everything in front of her. In any good defensive performance, usually the goalkeeper and the backs recognize danger before danger happens and communicates that to people in front of them. Obviously effort is a big thing as well. Effort is not only when we have the ball. We have to have effort when we're off the ball, too."
If you've watched State play, particularly lately, you've seen the total team effort that Armstrong describes. The Bulldogs have shut out three of their last five opponents and given up only two goals total over that stretch.
As for the shutouts, MSU topped Louisiana, 2-0, back on August 22. A week later, the Bulldogs stifled Southeast Missouri, 1-0. Then, last Thursday, State and Minnesota played to a scoreless draw.
Now Anderson does get a fair share of the credit for all that. The sophomore has quickly blossomed into a force. After notching a pair of shutouts in 12 games last season, she's needed only six games to top that mark this year.
"I feel like I've grown a lot this year, especially from my freshman year," Anderson said. "My freshman year I was still learning a lot of things, the basics of college soccer. But this year, I feel like I have a little more grasp on it. I'm confident in what I can do."
Anderson knows though that no matter how much she grows, she'll always need help to keep foes at zero.
"For us to get a shutout, it takes the whole team – even the bench and the fans," Anderson said. "We need all that energy we can get just to feel pumped. It takes us communicating as a team and working together and making sure we're all organized on the back line and making sure we're not disconnected and everyone is on the same page. It also takes a lot of gap plays where people work their butts off to make a sliding tackle or block a shot or score a goal. We just need a lot of those in order to keep a shutout."
So the next time the final horn sounds and Anderson and the Bulldogs have once again kept the other team without a goal, know that it's a combination of the work of an incredible goalkeeper as well as the rest of MSU's squad working together as one. It's a feat the entire Mississippi State team will have a hand in.
"We go so hard for each other and just seeing that pay off is so rewarding," MSU senior defender Niah Johnson said.
