Spring Break
Soccer team drops two in Virginia
Paul Kimbrough
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The Mississippi State soccer team fell to 2-3 for the season following a pair of losses in the Mason Tournament at Fairfax, Va. over the weekend. Friday night the Bulldogs dropped a 3-0 decision to Georgetown (4-0-1), who is poised to be ranked for the first time this season when the national polls are released later today. Sunday, MSU fell victim to a 54th minute strike from George Mason (2-3) midfielder Sasha Vido, who scored directly from a corner kick.
Friday, Georgetown out-shot the Bulldogs 24-8, forcing MSU goalkeeper Taryn Holland to make a season-high 9 saves. No other team this season has out shot the Bulldogs. The Hoyas also won 12 corner kicks in the process.
Taryn played an amazing game," senior midfielder Anna Goblirsch said. "She made a number of excellent saves."
Holland denied a near-certain goal from a free kick in the first half from Hoya Caitlyn Durkee. Holland also saved a second half point blank shot from Samantha Baker.
In the end, however, two goals and an assist from Hoya forward Toni Marie Hudson in only 52 minutes of playing time were too much for the Bulldog defense.
Georgetown coach Dave Nolan said the Bulldogs' style of play was different from the Hoyas' previous opponents.
They play a little different from the teams we've seen so far, and they're a good physical team – not chippy – and we rose to meet that challenge," Nolan said.
His team's daunting statistical advantage far from underlined how even the play was at times.
Yes we had a lot of shots, but as far as real chances, we either made them work or scored goals on them," Nolan said.
Goblirsch came away fairly pleased with the Bulldog performance.
Georgetown is a top 20 team, and we played up to their level for most of the game," Goblirsch said. "We put in spurts of good soccer. That will carry over to next weekend."
MSU coach Neil MacDonald had looked to last weekend's games to prepare the Bulldogs for the upcoming Southeastern Conference schedule.
Goblirsh said she thinks the Bulldogs will be ready with injured players Ashley Hood and Katelyn Graben set to return to form by the conference opener in two weeks.
Sunday, the Bulldogs were the better of the two teams, dominating George Mason for large periods of the game and racking up seven shots on goal. However, the Bulldogs could not transform their possession into goals. All MSU scoring threats were stopped by Mason goalkeeper and tournament MVP Keely Keelan. Keelan, a junior, was named All-Colonial Athletic Association last year as a forward and leads George Mason in scoring despite starting both games last weekend at goalkeeper.
Mason scored the game's only goal on a second half Sasha Vido shot directly from a corner kick.
Macdonald said he saw this weekend as another step in the gelling of the young Bulldog team.
"Not taking the chances we had ended up costing us," MacDonald said. "This weekend taught us a lot about ourselves as a team, and that is a big positive going forward."
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