Soccer Season Officially Begins Thursday In Starkville

STARKVILLE – The 2025-26 athletic year will officially begin on Thursday night in Starkville as the No. RV/21 Mississippi State soccer team hosts Jacksonville State.

Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

The match will mark the beginning of the Nick Zimmerman era after he was named the seventh head coach in program history in December. Zimmerman's debut last week was spoiled by lightning and heavy rains that canceled the team's match with UT Martin.

State's lineup features six players named to the SEC Preseason Watch List and two who were recognized in TopDrawerSoccer's national Preseason Best XI.

"Jacksonville State is a new group. I think they have only nine returning," Zimmerman said. "I know the coach well from his days in Birmingham, so I know he'll do a great job. He'll have them organized, and they're going to compete. I saw that they played North Alabama close on Sunday, 0-0, and they got the dub against West Georgia in a crazy game on Thursday night. I'm sure they'll come in with a lot of confidence and nothing to lose."

Fans in attendance on Thursday night can look forward to two giveaway items. The first 100 students will receive a free schedule t-shirt while the first 250 fans in general can claim a free cup of Bully's Ice Cream.

"We're excited. We're hopeful that we have a big crowd," Zimmerman added. "Everyone needs to come out. Be loud. It's a great opportunity to start this new school year off right, and we'd love to have everybody here."

Kicking Off

Hail The Champs: State won the SEC Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history in 2024. The Bulldogs became the fifth school in SEC history to win every conference match in a season and were the only team in the nation to win every one of its regular-season conference matches.

Global Game: Three members of the current MSU roster have national team experience. At least one rostered player has either had previous national team experience or gone on to play for their national team in seven of the last nine seasons.

New Look: State returns just under 25 percent of its field player minutes from last fall and does not return a goalkeeper with a single career minute in Maroon and White. MSU lost 180 of 242 combined starts (74.4 percent) from last year. However, the Bulldogs return 51.1 percent of their goals in 2024, and their portal additions scored 17 times last year. With their addition, members of the 2025 roster totaled 40 goals in 2024. As a team, State scored 45 last year.

Delayed Day One: MSU's season opener was canceled after a lengthy lightning delay, making Thursday State's opening night. The Bulldogs are 18-9-3 all-time in season openers and 18-10-2 in home openers.

About Jacksonville State (1-0-1, 0-0-0 C-USA)

Rankings: United Soccer Coaches – NR | TopDrawerSoccer – NR
Head Coach: Corey Smith | Record at JSU: 1-0-1 (1st Year) | Career Record: 4-9-6 (2nd Year)

Series History

Notables

Jacksonville State will play its third consecutive road match to open the season on Thursday. The Gamecocks opened the year with a 3-2 victory at West Georgia and a scoreless tie at North Alabama. The match against North Alabama was played at Joe Davis Stadium, home of Hunstville FC. Last season's meeting between the two squads was the first collegiate game played in the facility. JSU has seen three different players find the net. The Gamecocks are looking to replace the Bulldogs' Nancy Almanza, who transferred to MSU after leading JSU with five goals in C-USA play last year.

Next Up

The Bulldogs host No. 10/17 Wake Forest on Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. CT. The nationally-televised match on ESPNU will also be a "Black Out" game for State with 200 free t-shirts for fans in attendance.

Follow the Bulldogs

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

Soccer Season Officially Begins Thursday In Starkville

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nancy Almanza

Mississippi State University Athletics

Soccer Season Officially Begins Thursday In Starkville

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nancy Almanza

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