State Closes Regular Season, Honors Senior Class

Thursday, October 27

Starkville

6:30 p.m.

Mississippi State

10-4-4, 4-4-2

Georgia

11-5-2, 5-3-2

Georgia

Mississippi St.

State Closes Regular Season, Honors Senior Class

October 27, 2022 | Soccer

Box Score

By: Jen Smith, Assistant Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – The Mississippi State soccer program (10-4-4, 4-4-2 SEC) concluded its regular season, Thursday night, against Georgia (11-5-2, 5-3-2 SEC), playing to a 1-1 draw.

"[I'm] really proud of the effort again tonight; we took a really good Georgia team to the wire," head coach James Armstrong said. "Obviously, we're disappointed to not close out the win and get the [SEC Tournament first-round] bye, but we're excited to go to Pensacola."

After a quiet, and scoreless, opening half, State would only need 48 seconds into the second frame to break the deadlock, as sophomore Haley McWhirter slid home the setup from freshman Alivia Buxton.

McWhirter's seven goals are now the most she's scored in one season spanning across her two-year collegiate campaign. The mark also moves the Magnolia, Texas, native into a tie for fourth-most goals scored in one season by a MSU sophomore.

Nine minutes later, though, Georgia would grab the equalizer and secure the first-round bye of the conference tournament.

Prior to kickoff, State recognized its 2022 senior class: Miranda Carrasco, Madison Cotta, Alyssa D'Aloise Gwen Mummert, Jojo Ngongo, Hannah Pimentel, Olivia Simpson, Hannah Telleysh, Andrea Tyrrell and student assistant coach Peyton York.

"Tonight was [also] a night of celebration for the seniors that have impacted our program so much," Armstrong added. "They've done an amazing job in progressing this program the way we want it to, and we're excited to see all the great things that they're going to do in their future."

State ends its 2022 regular season-campaign eighth in the league, the highest finish during Armstrong's reign at MSU.

The No. 8 seeded Bulldogs will take a quick break before arriving to Pensacola, Florida, for a first-round contest with No. 9 Texas A&M (9-5-5, 3-4-3 SEC). The match will kick off at 3:30 p.m. CT and will air on SEC Network.

Keeping Up With MSU Soccer

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