STARKVILLE — The disappointment of not making the NCAA tournament has worn off for the Mississippi State women’s soccer team.
With only two of the Southeastern Conference’s record nine teams still alive in the 64-team tournament, most of the nation has turned its sights toward 2018 and beyond. After all, recruiting in Olympic sports like women’s soccer often is mapped out two and three years in advance, so there has been plenty of work for Tom Anagnost and his coaches at MSU to tackle.
Still, Anagnost feels MSU was in the mix to earn an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament after a 9-5-4 season, which was its first winning season since 2012. The Bulldogs also recorded their best winning percentage (.611) since 2011.
“I am a results-oriented person, so I am not satisfied with what we did,” Anagnost said. “The goal is to get to the SEC tournament. We didn’t do it. The goal is to get to the NCAA tournament. We didn’t do it.
“I set very high goals. That is never going to change about me. I have been doing this since 2007 and I look at who we had on our team, where we started, and where we ended. This is the most dramatic improvement ever in all of my years. If I am evaluating progress, it’s the best. If I am evaluating how did our staff do, compared to all of the other years, it’s the best job, but it also is the most difficult job I have had.”
In addition, senior Mallory Eubanks became MSU’s first SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, senior goalkeeper Catalina Perez earned first-team All-SEC honors, and sophomore forward MaKayla Waldner joined Eubanks on the All-SEC Second Team to give the Bulldogs three All-SEC selections for the first time in program history.
MSU had a case to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history, even though it failed to qualify for the 10-team SEC tournament. MSU went 2-5-3 in the SEC and tied for 10th with Kentucky and Missouri (nine points). Missouri earned the tiebreaker and the 10th and final spot in the SEC tournament in Orange Beach, Alabama.
MSU made history in that all five of its losses in the SEC were by one goal. It marked the first time in the history of the program, which started in 1995, the Bulldogs didn’t lose at least one game in the league by multiple goals.
As a result, MSU was closer than some might have expected to joining South Carolina, Texas A&M, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt in the NCAA tournament field.
The nine selections eclipsed the previous record of eight in 2011 and 2014. This marks the 10th time in the last 11 seasons that the SEC has had at least six teams advance to postseason play.
That history shows the SEC is a strong enough league to help MSU get to the postseason if it takes care of its business in the non-conference schedule.
“We had chances to tie and win the games (we lost in the SEC),” Anagnost said. “You can go through all eight of the games (we tied and lost). It is crazy. Every single thing we do is important, but I am not the only coach sitting here that could say that. There are other teams that didn’t get in that have a case just like us.”
Anagnost hopes the feeling of being that close to taking a huge step forward will be motivation for the returning players. He acknowledges the Bulldogs will suffer key graduation losses, including Eubanks, Perez, Payton Gruenewald, Khalyn Harmon, and Kelly Dorney.
Still, he felt a tie turned to a win or a loss turned to a tie could have changed the trajectory of the season given the Bulldogs didn’t lose by more than a goal in all 18 matches and they had seven results against top-100 foes, including three victories against teams ranked in the top 100 in the RPI.
“The buy-in was high very quickly,” Anagnost said. “You can kind of measure the buy-in when your teams takes some lumps. We lost some games in a row and when the going gets tough, that is when you find out what kind of team you have.”
Anagnost will look to junior Brooke McKee, who led the team in points (20, eight goals, four assists), and Waldner, who had a team-high nine goals. Freshmen A.K. Ward and Gracie East had two goals and figure to return with junior Courtney Robicheaux as players who scored multiple goals in 2017. Junior Carly Mauldin, who started all 18 matches and played 1,662 minutes, figures to be a key returner on defense.
The loss of Eubanks, who battled mononucleosis all season, and defenders Harmon (1,561 minutes, 18 starts) and Dorney (1,683, 18) will create key leadership openings Anagnost and his coaches will have to fill.
“What they did, especially these seniors, is they led the way for the groundwork, culture, and environment down the road,” Anagnost said. “They literally created what I feel is the best soccer environment for a women’s soccer player to be in. Who wouldn’t want to be around these great kids at this great school with these great facilities and support?
“I reminded them we are a good team. It’s not like teams are lining up to play us anymore. All of those things were evident for our players. I didn’t want us to be a, ‘Look at what we have done already.’ I don’t want to be a year-to-year team. I want us to be a present and forward-thinking team.”
That’s why the dry erase board on the wall to the right of Anagnost’s desk is littered with names in the next several classes. The goal of Anagnost and his staff is to get as many of those kids as possible to come to Starkville to build on the culture and the environment the players on the 2017 team created.
“I don’t think you can replace anybody,” Anagnost said. “The players coming in have a lot of responsibility. … Our returning players have to step up. Their responsibility has grown. Our new players have to come in ready and they have to be good for us, and they also have to get better every day.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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