Mississippi State soccer will wrap up its regular season on Sunday afternoon.
The Bulldogs are 10-4-1 under first-year head coach Nick Zimmerman, and were on course to defend their SEC regular season crown until a three-game losing streak began at No. 7 Arkansas.
MSU rebounded with a 1-0 win over Alabama last weekend, and still has a chance to secure a Top-4 seed, which comes with a first-round bye in the SEC tournament.
MSU next faces Georgia at the MSU Soccer Field on Sunday at 2 p.m. A win would take the Bulldogs to at least fourth in the conference standings, but could leap as high as second pending results for Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
After graduating nine starters last year, it was reasonable to expect a drop-off, but the squad remained competitive. The Bulldogs have two Top-10 wins under their belt and reached double-digit wins for only the seventh time in program history.
And they did it with youth and inexperience.
Of the players who have started most for MSU, five of them are freshmen or sophomores. Additionally, two freshmen and a sophomore have become regulars off the bench as role players.
Zimmerman knew coming into the season that he would be relying on younger players to step up, but there was no certainty in who would step in and succeed right away. Everything had to be earned, and the players earned it.
“Every single player that we recruit, we go through the process with, we’ll never guarantee you a starting spot or playing time,” Zimmerman said. “That’s going to come down to you. But the expectation is, if we’re going through this process, the hope is that you come in and compete to play right away.”
Tatum Borman and Adia Symmonds both emerged early on as options on the wings, with the latter starting all 15 games this season. The pair each have two goals, with Borman providing three assists and Symmonds providing four for the Bulldogs this season.
Symmonds’ 15-game starting streak will come to an end this weekend, only because she is with the U.S. Soccer U-18/U-19 Women’s National Team at their training camp for friendlies with Ireland and Portugal. She was already a highly regarded standout, and now has the chance to represent the U.S. at the FIFA U-20 World Cup next year. Her success preceded her, having been a U.S. Talent ID camper last summer, but the rise of her teammates has reflected the quality of players she came into the program with.
Letting the kids play
“Our freshman class has been pushing and doing a lot of work with the older players,” Symmonds said. “We’re getting to learn from them and compete with them every day, and we’re used to playing against top-level seniors, so when we go and play other teams, we’re ready for it.”
More freshmen have earned starting and impact roles off the bench this season. Ella Peterson has 10 starts in defense, and Laila Murillo and Sofia Aguayo have become regulars off the bench in midfield.
Kennedy Husbands and Kara Harris, impact freshmen last year, have solidified their roles as regulars in midfield and defense, while classmate Lauryn Taylor has provided energy off the bench late in games.
Players like Borman and Peterson didn’t come in knowing what their role would be, and had little experience even playing in defensive roles, but still found the confidence to adapt their game early on to make an impact.
“Before I came here, I was a forward,” Peterson said. “When I got here, I got moved into midfield, and they noticed that I like to cut inside and shoot with my right, so I think that’s why they like to put me on the left. (Defensive responsibilities) were definitely a big change, but we worked a lot, especially in the spring. We worked on our press and how we’re going to defend as a unit, and I learned a lot through that.”
More than talent and ability, the young players have demonstrated a high level of understanding of what the Bulldogs try to do tactically and executed it at a high level.
Zimmerman was interviewed on Dawg Talk, the weekly MSU radio program hosted at Walk-On’s in Starkville, earlier this month, and noted the influence of Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola and his possession-based style of play on his program. It’s a style the Bulldogs have grown into since former head coach James Armstrong’s appointment in 2019, and it is typically reserved for teams with the best players to operate it. It requires a high technical floor and tactical understanding throughout the team, and yet the style has persisted through extensive roster turnover and a number of underclassmen playing in important roles. For Zimmerman, that reflects the level of talent that MSU now attracts as one of the best soccer programs in the SEC.
“They’re awesome kids, first and foremost,” Zimmerman said of the freshmen. “I mean, they’re the type of players that you want to be a part of your program. They embody the core values, they do all the things right, both on and off the field, and they’ve continued to grow at different rates throughout the spring and now. For them to continue to be so hungry and ambitious in their development, as a coach, it’s everything that you want. Really proud of them and where they’re at right now, but also as they’ve continued to be thrown into certain situations, they’ve enjoyed it, they’ve embraced it, and they’ve continued to work to get better.”
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