STARKVILLE — Mississippi State Soccer is going dancing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row, and will host its First Round matchup against Lipscomb at the MSU Soccer Field at 5 p.m. Saturday.
The Bulldogs (12-6-1) won two games at the SEC Tournament in Florida before going out in the semi-finals against LSU. They were playing competitively against the Tigers when disaster struck, with a red card foul against Rebeka Vega-Peleka, leaving the team down a player as well as giving up a penalty. It was a difficult defeat, but the spirits remained high in the Touchdown Club of Davis Wade Stadium on Monday.
“I would say the confidence is through the roof,” midfielder Kara Harris said, celebrating her birthday as well as her team’s tournament selection on Monday. “I think Pensacola was another step in our process. It’s the most together we’ve been, and we’re playing our best soccer. No better time to play your best soccer than right now.”
“It’s always an exciting time,” head coach Nick Zimmerman said. “When you know how much work this group has put in, both on and off the field, and how intentional they’ve been, and to win an opportunity to be one of the top 64 teams in the country to play, it means a lot. There are 348 teams when you start the season in August, and to have an opportunity to continue playing in the middle of November, it’s exciting and a testament to how hard this group has worked.”
The day also saw the team’s leading goalscorer, Ally Perry, and freshman Tatum Borman named to the SEC All-Tournament team, highlighting their contributions in an exciting run to the conference semis.
The stay in Florida wasn’t as long as the team might have wanted it to be, but it saw the team rebound after a difficult end to the regular season. Four defeats in the final five games of SEC play might have spelled doom for MSU’s chances at hosting, but the team rallied and played two strong matches with wins over Oklahoma and regular-season conference champions Arkansas.
“We were in Pensacola for quite a while, the longest I’ve been there in my time here, and not only did we grow, we had several moments on and off the field where we were like, we’re going to learn a lot about this group. We took that opportunity and took it to the next level,” Zimmerman said of the SEC Tournament.
He pointed to the time spent training and preparing, and the grit that it took to win the game late against the Sooners and come from behind to beat the Razorbacks.
“The feeling of togetherness, the excitement, it was really cool to see,” he continued. “And this is when you want to be playing your best football. We got some needed rest, but we’ve got a group that’s hungry and they want to continue playing for each other.”
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