Freshmen Produce In Shutout Victory

Sunday, August 29

Starkville

12:00 p.m.

Mississippi State

2-2-0, 0-0-0

Southeast Missouri

2-2-0, 0-0-0

Southeast Missouri

Mississippi State

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Freshmen Produce In Shutout Victory

August 29, 2021 | Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State found the back of the net just over three minutes into the second half to claim a 1-0 victory against Southeast Missouri on Sunday afternoon.

In the 49^th minute, freshman Ally Perry made a run down the left side through the defense. She lofted a ball into the box for her classmate Hannah Johnson. Johnson was unable to win the header, but saw the ball deflect right to her foot and poked it into space as she slipped to the turf. Her pass rolled to Onyi Echegini who fired a shot through the keeper's hands for the lone goal of the match.

"Ally [Perry] has great feet. She can create and penetrate on the dribble. She beat a few players and played a great ball in to Hannah Johnson," head coach James Armstrong said. "It got caught a little bit under her feet, but she had the commitment to keep the play alive and poked the ball in time for Onyi [Echegini]. Onyi took a great touch and does what she does. That's what we need. We need someone to step up and score goals. Thankfully, today, Onyi did that."

The match started an hour earlier than originally scheduled to try to beat the rain, and the skies did eventually open in 70^th minute. The wet weather did not slow the Bulldog attack however, as MSU outshot the Redhawks, 4-1, in the final 20 minutes.

Echegini and Johnson each fired five shots in the match, with both putting three on frame. Alyssa D'Aloise took the first shots of her Bulldog career, with two of her five landing on target. State put nine total shots on goal.

"The result was the most important part," Armstrong added. "We probably made it a little bit more difficult on ourselves than we hoped. I would not say that it was our best performance by any means. Give Southeast Missouri credit. They came out and were organized. They came to fight. The girls came in at halftime and were frustrated at themselves. We made some tactical adjustments and were much better in the second half. We had a clean sheet, and we got another 16 shots. We won the game which is the most important part."

After seeing its run of more than 474 minutes without allowing a goal at home end on Thursday, MSU again pitched a shutout, holding SEMO to just five shots. Maddy Anderson was perfect in net, including an impressive effort to push a shot over the bar in a one-on-one situation in the 55^th minute.

The Bulldogs head on the road this week for a pair of games against Big Ten schools. State will play at Minnesota on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. CT. The Bulldogs then travel to Iowa for a Sunday afternoon matchup at 1 p.m. against the Hawkeyes.

For more information on the Bulldog soccer program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateSOC" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.