STARKVILLE — Juliet Moore didn’t have much time to get her feet beneath her.
In the 73rd minute of Thursday’s soccer match between Mississippi State and Arizona State, the freshman from Dallas was subbed in to make her regular-season debut for the Bulldogs.
Less than three minutes later, Moore was knocked hard to the ground by the Sun Devils’ Kiki Stewart, drawing a whistle that resulted in a free kick outside the box.
“I think it was a welcome to college soccer,” Mississippi State coach James Armstrong said, “and she just dusted it down and got herself up.”
Perhaps the foul foreshadowed the hit the Bulldogs were about to take.
Junior Onyi Echegini rang her free kick off the right post and out of bounds, missing out on Mississippi State’s best scoring chance of the night. And in the 89th minute, little more than 90 seconds away from overtime, Arizona State’s Nicole Douglas cashed in on her own opportunity.
It was the lone goal in a 1-0 loss for the Bulldogs (1-2-0) to the Sun Devils (3-0-0) in a closely contested nonconference match.
“It was the game that we thought it would be: high intensity, fast paced, two really good teams,” Armstrong said. “Couldn’t be more proud of the girls. I thought it was a really great effort from start to finish.”
Arizona State finished the match with 14 shots to Mississippi State’s seven, but both teams had five shots on goal, hinting at a balanced contest.
But that all changed when the Sun Devils’ Olivia Nguyen dribbled into the right side of the box and delivered a perfect assist to Douglas. The senior from England beat Bulldogs goalkeeper Maddy Anderson, who deflected the shot but couldn’t keep it from rolling into the right side of the goal.
The Bulldogs mounted one last attempt, but Andrea Tyrrell’s shot was saved by ASU’s Birta Gudlaugs. A minute later, it was over.
“Soccer’s a cruel game sometimes,” Armstrong said. “Take nothing away from Arizona State. That girl scored a quality goal at the end there, and that’s what she’s capable of doing, and we knew that going in. We lost her for a second in the box, and she punished us.”
Douglas’ score forced the Bulldogs to pay for a few missed opportunities. Beyond Echegini’s shot off the woodwork, senior Monigo Karnley had a shot saved from the right side early in the second half, sophomore Macey Hodge couldn’t get her shot from close range past Gudlaugs in the 84th minute, and freshman Hannah Johnson missed a diving header in the 87th minute.
Of course, Mississippi State never would have been in position to break a scoreless tie if it weren’t for another strong performance by Anderson, a sophomore from Texas coming off a shutout of Louisiana on Sunday.
The Bulldogs keeper had two saves in each half, including a key stop in the 82nd minute when ASU’s Dai Williams entered the box from the right side and launched her shot right at Anderson. Eva van Deursen’s attempt on the rebound hit the corner of the crossbar and the right post for a goal kick.
On Thursday, Anderson’s efforts earned her the Bulldog statuette that comes with the team’s “Woman of the Match” award. Armstrong praised not only her saves but her ability to communicate with and organize Mississippi State’s back line.
“Maddy was unbelievable,” Echegini said. “She stepped up when we needed it. That was amazing from her.”
Anderson proceeded to deny Douglas in the 86th minute, but the Sun Devils forward couldn’t be kept down. Less than three minutes later, she provided the winning tally.
“They were pushing for a goal,” Armstrong said. “We were pushing for a goal. I don’t think either one of us really wanted to go to extra time.”
The Sun Devils certainly made sure no additional time would be required, stealing home from Starkville with a big road win and sending the Bulldogs into Sunday’s home match against Southeast Missouri with improvements to make.
“Sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to go,” Echegini said. “The only thing you can do is learn from your mistakes.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.