Bulldogs Fall to No. 15/13 Texas A&M in SEC Opener

Thursday, September 19

Starkville

7:00 PM

Mississippi State

5-4-0, 0-1-0

#15 Texas A&M

6-1-2, 1-0-0

Texas A&M

Mississippi State

Bulldogs Fall to No. 15/13 Texas A&M in SEC Opener

September 19, 2019 | Soccer

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by Brian Ogden, Assistant Coordinator/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State soccer fell to the No. 15/13 Texas A&M Aggies, 3-0, on Thursday night in the Bulldogs' conference opener. With the loss, MSU falls to 5-4-0 on the year with its only losses coming to ranked opponents.

The Bulldogs played a very even first half, with both teams putting just two shots on target. State had won three corners without allowing one, but was being outshot, 9-6.

"Really proud of the girls' effort tonight, especially in the first half," head coach James Armstrong said. "Texas A&M is a great team, and I felt that we came out absolutely on fire for the first 30 to 40 minutes. Second half, there wasn't a lot of tactical adjustments made, just talking to the girls about persevering and seizing those moments."

To open the second half, the Aggies earned back-to-back corner kicks. Moments later, they nearly opened the scoring. In the 50^th minute, Karlina Sample put a shot off the left post, and a pile of Bulldogs came together to block the Aggies' next two attempts off the rebound.

In the 56^th minute, Texas A&M's leading scorer, Jimena Lopez, dribbled up the left side and prepared to cross the ball into the box. Her service caught the back post and settled inside the net for the Aggies' first goal of the night.

"We came out a little bit flat in the second half, losing Kris [Malebranche] early hurt a little bit, but we reorganized," Armstrong said. "Unfortunately, the ball just didn't roll for us tonight, but there are a lot of positive things that we can build on."

Texas A&M's Ally Watt scored in the 67^th minute, and Taylor Ziemer added a third goal in the 71^st. Ziemer made a run to the back post and tapped home a pass from Lopez to result in the final score.

The Bulldogs had chances to find the net. In the 15^th minute, MaKayla Waldner put a header on target that was touched over the bar by the Aggie keeper. In the 20^th, Monigo Karnley headed the ball to Waldner at the penalty spot, but her attempted volley sailed high.

"We had a lot of balls in the box, particularly in the first half that we were nearly on the end of," Armstrong said. "They were probably our best chances of the game. We've just got to make sure we put the ball in the back of the net a little more efficiently than we're doing right now."

In the second half, Hailey Farrington-Bentil made a long run with the ball up the right side on the counter-attack before passing the ball to Karnley in the box. Karnley turned and fired a shot, but the ball was blocked for a corner.

MSU finished the match with 10 shots, five of which were on goal. Gabby English made an MSU-career-high six saves.

State will take a week off before hosting Ole Miss for the 25^th installment of the Magnolia Cup. The two programs will meet in a nationally-televised match on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.

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