State Hosts No. 21 Vanderbilt Thursday

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State soccer returns home for the first time in two weeks on Thursday night when the Bulldogs host No. 21 Vanderbilt at 6 p.m. CT.

The match will air on SEC Network+.

The Bulldogs bring a 19-match regular-season, home unbeaten streak into the game after winning their sixth consecutive Magnolia Cup against Ole Miss in their last action at the MSU Soccer Field. Large crowds have been a theme of the season, with three all-time top-10 attendance marks already this year, and a fourth that cracked the top 10 before being pushed out by the Ole Miss crowd.

Thursday night is State's annual breast cancer awareness match, and the first 250 fans can claim a free pink MSU soccer flag. Those fighting breast cancer and survivors of the disease will be recognized at halftime.

State and Vanderbilt enter the game with identical records in conference play, but MSU currently holds the tiebreaker over the Commodores in the standings. Both teams are fighting for one of the top four spots in the conference and the first-round bye in the SEC Tournament that comes with such a finish.

Kicking Off

Award Watch: Four Bulldogs were included in TopDrawerSoccer's Midseason Top 100 Players and Top 100 Freshmen. Adia Symmonds (No. 10), Tatum Borman (No. 20) and Ella Petersen (No. 81) made State one of nine teams nationally and two in the SEC with three freshmen in the rankings.

Tough Schedule Down The Stretch: Mississippi State has the No. 12 hardest schedule remaining in the country. State's final three regular-season opponents boast a combined winning percentage of .705.

Keep The Streak: The Bulldogs have not lost a regular-season match at home since Sept. 21, 2023, going 16-0-3 in that span.

Playing Without Perry: The Bulldogs will be without leading scorer Ally Perry on Thursday night after she was shown a red card in the team's last match at Florida.

Fast Start: Nick Zimmerman's nine wins lead all first-year head coaches nationally. With another win, he will break the program record for wins by a first-year head coach.

About Vanderbilt (10-3-1, 4-2-1 SEC)

Rankings: United Soccer Coaches – 21 | TopDrawerSoccer – NR
Head Coach: Darren Ambrose | Record at VAN: 118-64-31 (11th Year) | Career Record: 148-73-35 (26th Year)

Series History

Notables

Vanderbilt is coming off of its ninth shutout of the year, blanking Missouri at home last week. It was Vanderbilt's 10th win of the year, the sixth 10-win season under head coach Darren Ambrose and the Commodores' first time with back-to-back 10-win seasons since 2018 and 2019. The 'Dores are second in the conference in goal differential at plus-22, which ranks No. 14 nationally. Vanderbilt ranks ninth nationally in shutout percentage (.643) and leads the SEC in shots per game (8.00). Those shots have been on target nearly 48 percent of the time, which is second in the SEC.

Next Up

The Bulldogs play their final regular-season road game at Alabama on Sunday evening. Kickoff in Tuscaloosa is scheduled for 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.

Follow the Bulldogs

For more information on the Bulldog soccer program, follow on X, Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSOC."

State Hosts No. 21 Vanderbilt Thursday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tatum Borman

Ally Perry

Ella Petersen

Adia Symmonds

Mississippi State University Athletics

State Hosts No. 21 Vanderbilt Thursday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tatum Borman

Ally Perry

Ella Petersen

Adia Symmonds

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