Sarah Wommack stood separate from her teammates as the referees reviewed a foul in the box. It wasn’t certain yet, but she was telling herself what would soon be true: penalty kick.
“You have to lock in pretty quick,” Wommack said, reflecting on the moment. “I think especially when they went to review to see if it was a PK or not, you just have to assume it’s going to be one.”
By the time the referee came back and pointed to the spot, she was ready.
The Ole Miss bench was celebrating as though the ball had already hit the back of the net, but it was far from settled. Wommack, who saved a penalty in a loss to Baylor earlier in the season, kept her cool and read the play to the final possible second.
“We do our scouting, but I did not have any scout on that,” she said with a laugh after the game. “My teammates take PKs on me all the time, and I just noticed when she was coming, it looked like she favored her left side. I went and cheated so that when she was going there, I was there. Last minute, she switched her right, and I already had my momentum going. I just went across and got it.”
Her dive to the right pushed the ball around the goalpost and kept the teams level. The game was far from over in that moment, but her touch kept the visitors off the scoreboard in an already heated rivalry game. It was the closest Ole Miss came to scoring in the game, and as the moment passed, the Bulldogs had more time to find the next gear. It took another half of action to get there, but once again the goals came and the Magnolia Cup extended its stay in Starkville.
“It’s always big,” Zimmerman said of Wommack’s save. “If you go into half potentially down 1-0, the next 45 is totally different. We acknowledged that at half, a big-time moment, and that’s what the Magnolia Cup comes down to. Since I’ve been here, it’s always key moments. A moment of magic, a moment of brilliance, defensively or offensively, so fortunate that we were on the right side of it.”
The 13th-ranked Bulldogs (9-1-1, 4-0-1 SEC) left it late at home once again, but won 2-0 with goals from Naila Schoefberger and Ally Perry in the final 15 minutes of action.
Schoefberger, normally a menace for opponents on set pieces, made her presence felt on a free kick swung in by Perry in the 77th minute.
The initial chance was parried away, as was the rebound effort by Kara Harris, but Schoefberger left no doubt on the third chance, shooting a laser beam into the goal and sending more than 2,000 fans into celebration.
“We were like, ‘Who scored that?’ because it was a scrum, and they were like, ‘Nai’. It figures, because it was smoked into the net,” Zimmerman said of the goal.
“My role is always to get in and be an option on set pieces, but regardless of whether the ball gets served in or not, regardless of what we decide to play, it’s always giving 100% and being where I need to be,” Schoefberger said. “In that case, it’s just like that, I went in and did my job and the results followed.”
The game got its regularly scheduled Perry goal six minutes later, extending her run to five consecutive games. It’s the second-longest goal-scoring streak in program history, and this one came with plenty of encouragement for the team’s attack as a whole.
Zoe Main collected the ball wide and played a cutback cross low toward the top of the box. Two MSU runners were ahead of the pass, but not Perry, who was on a trailing run. She controlled and fired the ball into the net, giving her team some insurance and giving her a chance at history by extending her scoring streak.
It won’t be an easy task as the Bulldogs travel to face No. 7 Arkansas on Sunday at 6 p.m. The Razorbacks were held to a draw against South Carolina on the road on Thursday, meaning they’ll be in a tie at the top of the SEC table with the Bulldogs by gametime.
It’s a quick turnaround after a dramatic rivalry win, but the Bulldogs showed again the kind of fight to stay in a game for the whole 90 minutes. Their six straight Magnolia Cup wins were all physical, emotional battles with plenty of yellow cards, but the wins, and for four years straight, the shutouts, came with focus and perseverance when the match heated up.
“That’s something that’s really important for our group because all week we talk about the process,” Zimmerman said of the run. “Until you’re in these moments and these games, and going out and delivering the performance, it’s so big. A total team effort, really proud of the staff and the players. We were intentional with how we prepared and really happy with the performance tonight.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
