For the fourth year in a row, postseason soccer is coming to Starkville.
The Mississippi State women’s soccer team will host the Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament opener against Lipscomb on Sunday at 5 p.m. Tickets for the match went on sale Monday evening and are $10 apiece with general admission seating offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Children two years and younger get in free.
Mississippi State (12-6-1, 5-4-1 SEC) is coming off an appearance in the conference tournament semifinals, a 3-1 loss to LSU. The Bulldogs have had plenty of postseason success in recent years, though, including back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s always an exciting time when you know how much work that this group has put in both on and off the field, how intentional they’ve been to earn an opportunity to be one of 64 teams in the country and to keep playing,” first-year coach Nick Zimmerman said. “It means a lot. There are 348 teams when you start this journey back in early August.
“To have an opportunity to continue to play in the middle of November, it’s really exciting and a testament on how tough this group is together.”
Leading the group is redshirt sophomore Ally Perry with 24 points, including eight goals and an SEC-leading eight assists. Junior Zoe Main has six goals while junior Kyra Taylor and freshman Tatum Borman have four apiece. Borman’s classmate, Laila Murillo, has added three goals. Sophomore Sarah Wommack has proven strong inside the goal with 43 saves and four shutouts.
If Mississippi State – the No. 6 seed in the upper left quadrant of the bracket – were to beat Lipscomb (14-5-2, 7-2-1 ASUN), the Bulldogs would travel to Georgetown for the second and third rounds.
