Waldner Brace Leads Bulldogs To Victory In SEC Home Opener

Thursday, September 21

Starkville

7:00 PM

Mississippi State

7-1-1 (1-1SEC)

Missouri

5-5-1 (1-1SEC)

Missouri

Mississippi State

Waldner Brace Leads Bulldogs To Victory In SEC Home Opener

September 21, 2017 | Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)VIDEO | MaKayla Waldner Recaps State's Victory Photo Gallery

STARKVILLE, Miss. – MaKayla Waldner was not expecting it at all.

The Dexter, Mo., native scored a pair of goals to lead the Mississippi State soccer team (7-1-1, 1-1 SEC) to a 3-1 win against Missouri (5-5-1, 1-1) on Thursday night at the MSU Soccer Field.

"It's amazing how our team came together in this game," Waldner said. "Any SEC game is tough and Missouri had some amazing players. We just came together and tackled them head-on."

"We are really happy with the result," MSU coach Tom Anagnost said. "It is super hard to win. I am proud of the effort our kids played with and their mentality. We showed some chinks in our armor but we are going to address those tomorrow and the next day and we're going to regenerate our bodies and minds to get ready for a very difficult opponent on Sunday. We are going to regroup and recover and see if we can put up an even better performance on Sunday."

State had a prime early scoring chance in the 12th minute when Mallory Eubanks delivered a corner kick right into a packed box where a Carly Mauldin strike was knocked away.

However, the Bulldogs would not be denied, as they got on the board first in the 17th minute on Brooke McKee's header—her fourth goal of the year. Eubanks earned the assist on the score by delivering a precise cross into the box right to McKee.

Five minutes later in the 22nd minute, Gruenewald had a header knocked away by Missouri starting goalkeeper Kelsey Dossey but Waldner was right there for the rebound to give MSU the 2-0 lead.

The Tigers had back-to-back chances in the 34th minute but Catalina Perez was there to tally a pair of spectacular saves to preserve MSU's lead. The Boca Raton, Fla., native tied her career high with seven saves for the Bulldogs on the night.

Kelly Dorney had an excellent chance to extend MSU's lead to 3-0 in the 55th minute as she fired a rocket off the crossbar.

Missouri cut State's lead to 2-1 when Tess Rellihan scored her fifth goal of the season in the 71st minute.

Waldner responded with her second goal of the contest in the 84th minute when she side-footed a deflection right past Missouri's Kristen Rivers to seal the deal for State.

While Waldner may not have expected it, Anagnost said that he wasn't surprised after the week of training she had.

"The last three training sessions [Waldner] had were fantastic. She was really focused and it was very noticeable by everybody and it was not a surprise that she did this well tonight."

Next Up For MSU

Next, the Bulldogs will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to face LSU at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 24. The match at the LSU Soccer Stadium will be streamed live on SEC Network+.

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