STARKVILLE — Mississippi State soccer standouts Ally Perry and Maddy Anderson were recognized by the Southeastern Conference with weekly awards for their performances against Arkansas on Friday. Perry, the goalscorer in MSU’s 1-0 victory, was named co-SEC Offensive Player of the Week while Anderson was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week.
The Bulldogs (10-1, 4-0 SEC) climbed up to No. 3 in the NCAA’s RPI rankings after defeating No. 1 ranked Arkansas. The Razorbacks (9-1-1, 4-1 SEC), the nationwide leader in goalscoring, were held to just five shots all game, registering only one shot on target against the Bulldogs.
“It’s incredible, getting rewarded for everything we’ve worked for the past summer and spring building up to this,” Perry said after the win. “It’s a rewarding feeling getting the success we’ve achieved through our hard work.”
Perry scored the lone goal of the match, beating the Razorback defense with an Olimpico, a goal directly from a corner kick. It was her seventh goal of the 2024 campaign but wasn’t even an intentional strike.
“I was trying to find Aitana, but her movement is what caused the goal,” she said. “That wouldn’t have happened without her, so really I only did so much. Aitana did the rest.”
MSU has been a defensive juggernaut this season, and a huge part of that has been the high-intensity tactical approach and the experience in the team. At the heart of that is Anderson, the team’s dependable goalkeeper for several years who plays behind a solid defensive unit. She kept a clean sheet for the 10th time this season, making a huge second-half save to hold onto the lead and eventually secure the win against the top-ranked Razorbacks.
Anderson was quick to give credit to her teammates once again for the suffocating defensive performance, and her comments reflected the physical and demanding style of play the team employs in all phases of the game.
“It’s like I’m watching superheroes work in front of me,” Anderson said after the game on Friday. “You see Macey flying one way and Ilana flying the other. But, Ally, all of them are working so hard. Our midfield is key to our team. They help get the ball down and screen players, so they don’t get to our backline. They honestly are workhorses. They run like nine miles a game, I don’t know how they do it, that’s crazy to me.”
Anderson and Perry help form a key group of leaders in the team who have seen the side transform over the last three years. They’ve gone from making their first NCAA tournament appearance in years to battling for a top seed in the SEC, and perhaps even the nation, with a level of play fitting of their experience.
“They’ve left the jersey in a better place already, but hopefully there’s a lot more soccer for them to play this season,” Armstrong said of his group of upperclassmen. “When we as a staff go into the room we don’t have to talk about intimidation, we don’t have to talk about control because it’s such a veteran group that leads.”
The Bulldogs will hit the road for their next SEC fixture this week, facing Georgia (6-3-4, 2-1-2 SEC) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
It’s the first road test since the Bulldogs won 2-0 at Oklahoma in the SEC opener, and the team has been focused on it since the sun rose on Saturday.
“We said going into the game that whatever the result was, it’s just another game,” Armstrong said. “Arkansas deserved to be No. 1 coming into this game, but for us we talk about never wanting to be too high or too low. The result wasn’t going to define us, and tonight we’ll celebrate but tomorrow we have to turn a page and get ready for Georgia on Thursday.”
The key for any team with ambitions to be at the top of the sport is to avoid complacency, and the Bulldogs have no intentions of slowing down. They know it’s a different level of pressure with the target on their backs, but Armstrong’s focus is on the team and what they can control to continue on as they’ve gone so far.
“This is good momentum,” he said. “We talked about it as a test in terms of the style of play we want to play and they came through with flying colors tonight. We’ll build on this momentum, but we won’t let ourselves get too far ahead of ourselves.”
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