STARKVILLE — Carly Mauldin doesn’t need a drum roll or a main event introduction from Michael Buffer to know her Mississippi State soccer career could end Thursday night.
Mauldin intends to do everything in her power to make sure she and seniors Rhylee DeCrane, Courtney Robicheaux, Brooke McKee, and Jen Huckaby will live to fight another day. To accomplish that goal, MSU needs to beat LSU at 7 p.m. in the regular-season finale for both teams at the MSU Soccer Field.
“This is what you work all season for. All of the grind comes down to this one moment,” Mauldin said. “I think we’re prepared. I don’t think we’re going to make it out to be this dramatic event because we know what we have to get done, so I don’t think we’re going to let the whole drama get in the way. It’s do or die, so go out there and we’re going to do our best to try to get a result and make it to Orange Beach.”
MSU (9-5-2, 2-5-2 Southeastern Conference) is tied with Alabama for 11th place in the league standings. A victory against LSU would give MSU three points that it could use to climb over Missouri or Auburn in the SEC standings. MSU then would need one of four things to happen: Tennessee to beat or tie Missouri, Alabama to beat Auburn, or Arkansas to beat Florida to help the Bulldogs secure one of the 10 spots in the SEC tournament, which begins Sunday in Orange Beach, Alabama.
If none of those things work out, MSU still could live to play another day thanks to a resume that includes the No. 1 strength of schedule, according to the NCAA, and an average opponent Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of 31.4, which leads the league.
MSU also boasts an opponents’ winning percentage of .680, which leads the nation. The SEC has the highest average RPI (48) among all conferences, which is another factor that should help all of the SEC teams that don’t win the league tournament to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The SEC leads all conferences with seven teams in the top 25 of the RPI.
Four of MSU’s five losses have been on the road against RPI top 25 teams. The Bulldogs also haven’t received any breaks from a SEC schedule that hasn’t included matches against Kentucky and Georgia, which are at the bottom of the league.
Despite all of those permutations, MSU coach Tom Anagnost is focused on one thing.
“We have to play to win the game,” Anagnost said. “The kids have to make the plays. Our defending players and the people in the box have to stop the ball from going in the goal. People in the attacking quarter of the field and in front of the goal have to make the play and score a goal. We just have to do a better job Thursday night.”
MSU has been shut out six times in league play. The latest came Sunday in a 2-0 loss at Ole Miss. The Bulldog controlled the action except for a four-minute stretch in the second half in which the Rebels scored both goals. MSU has a 277-190 edge in shots and has allowed only 14 goals (12 in the SEC), but the inability to finish chances — eight goals in the SEC –has left it in a position where it needs a victory to have a chance to get back to the SEC tournament for the first time since 2004. MSU also is looking for its first NCAA tournament bid.
“The motivation is what do you want to do with your season?” Anagnost said. “We have goals and driven by our seniors we want to keep playing in Orange Beach. No team here has ever done that.”
Anagnost said the Bulldogs have been working to improve their “conviction, urgency, and precision” in the box to help score goals. He is confident the Bulldogs will see results if they can get one goal to help provide a spark.
Mauldin admits it is “disappointing” it has come to MSU needing a victory in its regular-season finale because she said the team feels it is better than its results show and that it hasn’t had the best of luck. Still, she said the team isn’t going to make excuses for what happened or what is going to transpire the rest of the way.
Junior MaKayla Waldner, who is tied with Zakirah McGillivary for the team lead in goals (seven), said it has been “frustrating” not have earned the results the team wanted earlier in the season. She said the Bulldogs plan “to give every ounce” that they have and “to play with their hearts” and hope for the best.
“We’re a great team,” Waldner said. “We deserve to go (to the SEC tournament). We give our all every game from the start to the finish. I am not saying it should be given to us, but we have worked so hard, and we’re just not going to let it slip through our fingers at this point. We’re going to go out there and do what we can to make it and just be grateful for whatever happens, and if we make it, we will make school history.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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