STARKVILLE — An early momentum swing in Alabama’s favor went straight back to Mississippi State in the 35th minute when Haley McWhirter tied things up at 1-1 with a screamer of a goal.
After that shot from roughly 25 yards out went into the next, the Bulldogs kept the pressure on the top-ranked team in the county for the remainder of the half and the first 20 minutes of the second half on Thursday night.
However, disaster struck on a relatively easy clearance chance for Mississippi State. Molly McDougal, instead of passing back to goalkeeper Mac Titus, held possession to the left of the 18-yard box.
McDougal was dispossessed, and the ensuing play ended with a cross into the box, where an open Riley Mattingly Parker headed the ball into the back of the net. That play opened up the floodgates for Alabama, who scored three goals in the second half en route to a 4-1 victory.
“We ran out of steam at the end there, but proud of the effort,” Mississippi State head coach James Armstrong said. “They kept fighting until the end. Alabama is No. 1 for a reason. They’re formidable going forward and their experience showed today.”
While the final scoreline said 4-1, this game was much closer than that three-goal differential, with MSU outshooting Alabama on the night, 14-13.
The Bulldogs ended up getting five of those shots on net, and in the second half, especially, Mississippi State was able to get a plethora of corner kicks — six of their seven in the match to be exact.
In the end, the biggest difference between the two teams was who was able to put their shots away in the back of the net. Of Alabama’s seven shots on goal, four crossed the goal line.
“They just put away their chances,” McWhirter said. “I don’t think the score really reflects how the game went. We had just as many shots as them. We fought just as hard. It just fell their way, and it happened to be 4-1.”
Looking at the corners situation, Mississippi State, tried to catch Alabama off guard by putting in low crosses or crosses to the front post to see what chaos could ensue.
It was an interesting tactic but one that had massive potential.
However, it looked like the Crimson Tide caught onto the game plan and began putting several defenders up front, easily clearing those corner attempts.
“You can tell just how good they are in the air all over the field,” Armstrong said. “They’re big, strong and physical, so we wanted to try to hit a certain area. When it goes front post, it makes it more difficult for them to win those headers. That was our game plan toward the end, but it didn’t quite come off.”
Like in the match earlier this month against South Carolina, many of the shots that the Bulldogs were taking came from outside the box, although Mississippi State was able to get much more pressure inside the box on Thursday.
One of those outside shots ended up working out, but the rest either ended up off target or were blocked and deflected by Alabama players.
There are definitely some positives to take from this match, one that MSU showed it can hang with the best teams in the SEC and in the country.
“I think this is easy to build off of,” McWhirter said. “It showed we can compete with them, it just didn’t fall our way. We know that we can do it. If we play them again, it could fall our way.”
However, with two matches remaining this season, the biggest thing that Mississippi State needs to work on is putting away those chances and not wasting them.
Mississippi State has delivered much better offensive performances this season compared to previous years, but having scored just two goals in their last five matches, the Bulldogs’ scoring drought has played a big part in recent results.
MSU will look to end those scoring woes beginning Sunday afternoon on the road against Vanderbilt before the regular-season and home finale against Georgia next Thursday.
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