Home » Sports » MSU soccer finishes nonconference schedule with shutout victory over Presbyterian
STARKVILLE — Junior forward Elle McCaslin had come off the bench her first two seasons and change at Mississippi State. That was until she got the nod on Sunday to be in the starting lineup for the first time in her college career.
McCaslin wasted no time making her presence felt.
Within two minutes of the match, she found herself open inside the 6-yard box in a one-on-one situation against Presbyterian goalkeeper Kelly Hall.
She found her opening, putting it past Hall for her first collegiate goal as MSU took an emphatic 1-0 lead in the match.
The Bulldogs flat out dominated the Blue Hose on Sunday, outshooting them 34-0 and recording a program-record 18 corners as MSU closed out its nonconference schedule with a 4-0 victory.
“It was a great way to start the game and get the momentum going,” McCaslin said. “I’m a third-year and it’s been a long time, but I finally, finally put one in the back of the net.”
Sunday’s victory was the perfect end to a successful nonconference campaign for Mississippi State (6-0-2), who in eight matches has already surpassed last season’s win total and has remained unbeaten.
The stats of this match were truly mind-blowing as MSU not only set a program record for most corners in one match but entered the top 10 for most shots in a match.
Sixteen of those shots ended up on goal for the Bulldogs, who controlled 75 percent of possession in the match, allowing just a handful of possible attacking situations for Presbyterian.
“Today was a game where we wanted to score early and we challenged the girls to do that,” head coach James Armstrong said. “They did that, but also, we told them to take care of the details on the defensive side of the ball.”
The Blue Hose were outmatched from the start and spent the large majority of the match hanging on for dear life, trying to fend off MSU attack after MSU attack in the box, whether it was a cross in or a direct shot attempt on goal.
Mounting attack after attack with the level of success that the Bulldogs had on Sunday is massive for this team moving into conference play next week.
Additionally, a few more players got their name on the scoresheet this season as Mississippi State continues to show unselfishness with the ball, dispersing it around well.
Of the three goal-scorers today, three were first-timers in their collegiate careers: McCaslin, sophomore midfielder Juliet Moore and junior forward/midfielder KK Pavatt.
It’s a testament to the work this team put in this offseason and the chemistry that began developing over the summer and has carried over through the first eight matches of the season.
“We feel really good about how we’ve started,” Moore said. “It shows the hard work from over the summer. We all dedicated ourselves to getting fitter, faster, stronger and just working together as a team to get our offense going and put some goals in the back of the net, and we did that today.”
With the nonconference schedule over, the real test for this Mississippi State team begins this Friday against Arkansas, the reigning three-time SEC regular season champions and one of the best women’s soccer programs in the country.
Coming into Sunday’s match against Grand Canyon, the Razorbacks are 4-1-1 on the season, having just tied No. 13 BYU, 3-3 in Provo, Utah on Thursday.
The Bulldogs will immediately be put through the wringer against a team they haven’t beaten in their last six meetings.
“Arkansas and Ole Miss are our favorite two programs to play,” McCaslin said. “We’re definitely super excited. We hope it gets packed out. It will be a really good game, and I can’t wait to take the field against them with all my girls.”
The benefit of this season’s SEC schedule for the Bulldogs is that it begins at home against Arkansas and continues on from there.
Friday night will be must-watch soccer at the MSU Soccer Field as MSU looks to get off on the right foot and rewrite some history against the Razorbacks.
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