PENSACOLA, Fla. – Mississippi State battled through 88 minutes of deadlock before something special happened at the SEC Tournament.
Freshman Tatum Borman took possession on the right wing and darted inside, skipping past a couple of defenders and opening up space for a shot on her left foot. She sliced the ball toward goal, sending a ferocious shot looping over the goalkeeper and catching the underside of the crossbar on its way into the net.
“Honestly, I was dribbling and I was trying to look for a slip ball, but no one stepped to me so I just decided to rip it,” Borman said in her postgame interview.
Borman was mobbed by teammates in celebration both after the goal and during her interview on SEC Network after the game, but she gave plenty of credit to them for their support and the leadership from the seniors like Ally Perry.
“I couldn’t be here without my teammates,” she said. “This is honestly a dream come true.”
To that point, the Bulldogs (11-5-1, 5-4-1 SEC) had outshot the Sooners 20-6, creating nine chances on goal while dominating possession. It was the sort of performance that head coach Nick Zimmerman wants to see in terms of control, but it took persistence to finally find the back of the net.
“I’m really proud of the way we played tonight. You know from the start of the game, we created some really good chances,” Zimmerman said. “We played our style of football. You know, we wanted to have it. We dominated possession, and we created really good chances. Credit to this group and the resiliency to keep fighting and score an absolute worldly to win the game. Really, really proud of the group, and now we rest and recover as we get ready to play against a really good Arkansas team.”
The Bulldogs will reunite with perennial SEC contenders Arkansas, who reclaimed the regular-season title, thanks in part to a dramatic 4-2 comeback win over MSU at the start of October. The loss was the first of four defeats for MSU to close the regular season, but the Bulldogs go into the rematch with a renewed confidence defensively, having conceded just one goal in the last three games.
The two teams will meet at 4:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
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