WACO – Mississippi State soccer’s regular season winning-run came to an end on Thursday night at Baylor. The hosts found early and late goals in a 2-0 win over the Bulldogs, frustrating head coach Nick Zimmerman’s side with an effective mid-block.
The Bulldogs (2-1) were under pressure from the start, and gave away a penalty in the first minute after a poorly timed tackly by Naila Schoefberger. Goalkeeper Sarah Wommack was up to the challenge, diving right and saving the effort from the spot, but the Bears found the breakthrough goal three minutes later. Freshman Olivia Hess had the ball on her favored left foot with MSU defender Kennedy Husbands back pedaling, and fired across her body to place the ball perfectly in the bottom right corner for 1-0.
It was one of 12 shots the Bears would fire in the first half of action, forcing a couple of saves from Wommack as they pressed to extend their lead. MSU came close with an Ally Perry shot striking the crossbar, but otherwise struggled to get through Baylor’s midfield.
“I think we’ve got to fight,” Zimmerman said in a halftime interview on the ESPN+ broadcast. We looked tired, we looked sluggish, so something we’ll address in the second half.”
The Bulldogs did respond in the second half, but managed just one shot on target from nine total shots. The Bears were comfortable with their defensive setup, and eventually found a second goal in the 82nd minute on a counter attack. Aryanna Jimison’s shot bounced awkwardly off the surface just in front of Wommack, who overcommitted to her left as the ball bounced past her right hand for the final goal.
MSU has one more stop on their road trip before heading back home, and has to rebound quickly after looking their age against a seasoned team. The group features 16 underclassmen, and will need to grow from the experience quickly to turn the loss into a positive going forward.
“I don’t think it was anything that they did, I think that it was more on us,” Zimmerman added. “It’s exactly what we trained, and we had a lot of success in trianing with it. It’s a young group playing against a super senior team, and it’s the first time you can see they did look young out there. This is part of our process, part of our growth, and this is a great experience for us.”
The Bulldogs will travel to face Oklahoma State on Sunday in Stillwater. The match will kick off at noon and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
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