Bulldogs Begin SEC Tournament Sunday Against Texas

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Mississippi State is set to open postseason play against Texas in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 8. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network in the third game of the day in Pensacola, Florida.

State is looking to win its opening game at the SEC Tournament for the fifth year in a row; however, three of its last four openers have needed extra time or penalties to decide a winner. Last season, the Bulldogs snapped that streak with a 1-0 win over Oklahoma thanks to a game-winning goal with less than 90 seconds to play.

State has reached the semifinals at the tournament in four consecutive seasons and is 4-4-1 since the tournament moved to Pensacola after having never won an SEC Tournament match at a previous site.

Kati Anne Shepherd was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team this week after ranking third among league freshmen in points, second in assists and fifth in goals. Meanwhile, Chiara Tappe picked up the final weekly honors of the season, being tabbed SEC Defensive Player of the Week and earning a spot on TopDrawerSoccer's national Team of the Week for her game-winning goal against No. 6 Alabama in the regular-season finale.

Kicking Off

Harrison Has It Handled: Jenny Harrison is now fourth in MSU single-season history with eight shutouts. Six of those have been in SEC play, which ranks second. She has also now qualified for State's career goals against average leaderboard and would currently hold the MSU record at 0.74.

Spooky Season: The Bulldogs were haunted in October, scoring just three goals and enduring a scoring drought of 360:10, the longest since 2016. It was State's lowest-scoring month since October of that year (1).

Rough For Ranked Teams: MSU has not allowed a ranked opponent to score this year. The Bulldogs defeated No. 6 Alabama in the regular-season finale while posting their MSU single-season-record fourth shutout against a ranked team. State is just 8:34 away from the 16th shutout streak of at least 300 minutes in school history.

Record Notes: State was unbeaten on the road in the regular season for the first time, and MSU is looking for its fifth straight 10-win season after having just three prior to 2022.

About Texas (8-4-5, 3-3-4 SEC)

Rankings: IWSOC – NR | TopDrawerSoccer – NR
Head Coach: Margueritte Aozasa | Record at TEX: 18-4-5 (1st Year) | Career Record: 75-17-14 (5th Year)

Series History

Notables

The Bulldogs have played Texas every season that the Longhorns have been in the conference, winning the first two meetings. Last year, Texas-native Laila Murillo recorded her first career multi-goal game in Austin. Both teams have succeeded in ranked matchups this year, with the Longhorns going 2-2-2 in such matches. Amalia Villarreal has led the Texas offense throughout her career. She has recorded 62 career points over 57 career matches and is just the sixth Longhorn to record 25 goals or more in her first three seasons. Goalkeeper Bayliss Flynn leads the SEC in total saves (62).

Next Up

With a win, State will advance to face No. 1/1 Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals. That game would be scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Nov. 10 and would also air on the SEC Network.

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Players Mentioned

Jenny Harrison

Laila Murillo

Kati Anne Shepherd

Chiara Tappe