STARKVILLE — Mississippi State kicked off the 2024 season with a win on Thursday night, holding off Baylor to win 1-0 at home. The Bulldogs outshot their opponents 17-5, allowing just one shot on target all night in a shutout performance for goalkeeper Maddy Anderson.
“We obviously had a great start to the game, which helps, even though that was it on the offensive side of the ball,” head coach James Armstrong said, “but I thought our backline and our midfield players winning second phase balls and I thought Maddy was unbelievable, especially on defensive set pieces tonight.”
Anderson only had to make one outright save on the night, but she was active in communicating to her defenders to keep them organized and coming out to challenge crosses and set piece opportunities for the Bears.
“I’m really happy with where we’re at defensively,” Anderson said after the game. “We did well shaking the ball where we needed to. A couple of breakdowns are going to happen, It’s early. We want to peak midseason so this is kind of a perfect game for us. Baylor came out and played great, it was like an SEC team, so a good test for us defensively and offensively.”
The Big 12 visitors never made life easy for MSU, and though the chances were limited they found several opportunities on counter-attacks. The Bulldogs kept the ball for most of the game and got an early goal after Ilana Izquierdo’s shot bounced off the crossbar, off of the goalkeeper’s back and into the goal in the third minute of the match.
Ally Perry created a pair of good chances for herself to add to the lead and winger Chelsea Wagner created two more with crosses into the box, but one goal was enough to get the win.
“I think that was the most intense opening game that I’ve been a part of,” Armstrong said. “I think we could have killed the game off a little bit, but proud of the defensive effort against a very good team.”
One thing the Bulldogs continued to do well was counter-press, a tactic that applies defensive pressure high up the field or after losing the ball. It requires good team awareness and a lot of stamina, but it has led to goals in the Bulldogs’ exhibition game and the game on Thursday night.
“The thing we’ve been working on the most is counter-pressing,” Armstrong said. “It’s one of our keys to the game, can we win the ball high up the field? Because we’ve got some really special attacking players, so if we can win it closer to their goal special things can happen. Some of the ones we missed today also came from counter-pressing.”
Armstrong gave credit where it was due to his players for putting in the work, as well as the tactics of assistant coaches Drago Ceranic and Nick Zimmerman and the fitness training of strength coach Victor Hoffman.
Armstrong also took the time to give credit to Izquierdo, whose effort led to the goal, and the team’s defensive structure. In particular, he praised Anderson for once again putting in a good shift between the sticks. Her leadership from the back was on display again, and her experience in goal continues to pay dividends for the team.
“Maddy is great,” he said. “She leads the line well, she has a great connection with her back line, and that’s been a huge improvement this year. They’ve bonded, all veterans back there but Maddy is the one protecting the goal and she came up big time in certain moments today.”
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