Dawgs Achieve Program-Record Unbeaten SEC Streak in Last Home Match

Thursday, October 19

Starkville

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

9-3-4, 4-2-2

Vanderbilt

8-4-4, 3-4-1

Vanderbilt

Mississippi St.

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Dawgs Achieve Program-Record Unbeaten SEC Streak in Last Home Match

October 19, 2023 | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Lance Pardue, Communications Fellow

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State (9-3-4, 4-2-2 SEC) faced off against Vanderbilt (8-4-4, 3-4-1 SEC) in their final SEC home match on Thursday. The Bulldogs and Commodores engaged in a hard-fought defensive battle under the Starkville lights as the Dawgs extended their unbeaten SEC streak to five with a 0-0 draw.

Mississippi State dominated on the defensive end and smothered the Commodores throughout the night. State held the Dores to just six shots with three of them being on target for Maddy Anderson to save. Vanderbilt was only granted one corner kick as well which was late in the second half. Tonight marked the fourth consecutive shutout for this Bulldog defense and the ninth clean sheet in total. The 0-0 draw marks the first in the history of the matchup with the previous 22 matchups seeing a victor.

Anderson stood in goal for State once again on Thursday night and secured her 24^th career shutout. With tonight's combined shutout, Anderson now stands alone at the top in shutouts in the SEC. Anderson also finds herself in several top-five SEC statistical categories including being third GAA (goals allowed average) with 0.50 and in save percentage (.811). Defensively, the Dawgs are only allowing 7.3 shots per game.

The Bulldogs have enjoyed a successful October so far and one that has been historic for State. The month began with a road trip to Gainesville where MSU captured their first win in the Swamp in program history, 1-0. Three days later, State captured the Magnolia Cup from Ole Miss for the fourth-straight season in front of the second-largest crowd in program history. After a week off, the Bulldogs returned to the pitch for a matchup in Lexington with the unbeaten and then ranked 18^th Kentucky Wildcats. State secured yet another win and captured their second win over a top-20 opponent on the road. MSU was named the NCAA Women's Soccer Team of the Week following their win in Lexington. Tonight's draw with Vanderbilt keeps the Bulldogs unbeaten in the last month of the regular season.

Mississippi State currently carries the second-longest unbeaten streak in the SEC with 3-0-2 in their last five contests and have climbed into 16^th in the RPI this week. The Bulldogs are just one of four SEC squads in the Top-20 this week in RPI.

With tonight's crowd of 1,023, the season attendance record was broken. 9,034 Bulldogs made their way to the MSU Soccer Field this season, beating the previous 2017 record of 9,016.

Your 9-3-4 Bulldogs will be on the road Sunday with a matchup with the Crimson Tide of Alabama. The match is slated for a 6 PM CT kick and will be streamed on SEC Network + for those who are unable to travel up Highway 82 for the cross-state matchup.

Quoting Head Coach James Armstrong

On the Match
JA: "Obviously we would have liked to win ,but that point right now is very valuable in terms of standings. With the one point, there are a few of teams that mathematically cannot catch up. Sometimes you do not realize during the course of the season, which one point is going to make a big difference. Vanderbilt is a great team, they are pushing hard as well. We had some really good chances that I wish we could get back ,but we got another clean sheet. This was our fifth unbeaten, which is our program record in the SEC. That is another first for us, so we will enjoy that and get ready to start working again tomorrow."

Quoting Bulldog Keeper Maddy Anderson
On the Defensive Performance of the Entire Team
MA: "I think first half we were getting back into the swing of things and the second half I thought we did a lot better. We did well shifting as a defensive unit. We were making sure we were stepping at the right times and pressing. I think we shut them down quite a lot to where they had to kick the ball out of bounds. I think there is a lot to move forward with. We created a lot of good chances against a great team, they really wanted it and they came out strong. Vanderbilt is a great team, so I think we did really good against them. It is good preparation for Alabama."

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU women's soccer on X, like them on Facebook, and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateSoc."

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