Aug. 26, 2000

Box Score

STARKVILLE, Miss. - In a showcase of its youth, Mississippi State (1-0) got all of its scoring from freshmen and sophomores as State took a 4-2 victory over Samford (0-1) Saturday afternoon. The victory was Mississippi State's first season-opening victory since a 6-0 win over Belmont to kick off the 1997 season.

Mississippi State got off four shots before sophomore Jessica Kauffman redirected a pass from Leslie Nickles past Samford goalkeeper Carrie Ollom in the 25th minute (24:12) to provide the first half scoring. State headed into the halftime break clutching onto the 1-0 lead, but held a 9-1 shot advantage over the visitors.

MSU opened the second half scoring as newcomer Elke D'Hollander found Nickles who finished the play with a bender into the right side of the Samford goal in the 46th minute (45:24) The host Bulldogs jumped to a 3-0 lead just more than eight minutes later when D'Hollander redirected a pass from Jocelyn McNeely into the back of the net in the 54th minute (53:47).

Samford got on the scoreboard in the 71st minute (70:31) when senior Lindsay Anglin, on an assist by Hayley Kolb, headed a shot into an empty Mississippi State net. MSU extended its lead back to three five minute later when Amber Rose got her first career goal off an Annemarie Pimentel assist. (75:29). Samford's Allison DeLong added her first career goal in the 80th minute (79:49) with a shot from the top of the 18-yard box off a pass from Beverly Snellgrove to cut State's lead again, but that was as close as Samford would get.

Dispite the loss, Samford head coach Barry Spitzer was pleased with the second half effort his team displayed "Although we had a few mental breakdowns which led to goals the second half it was very encouraging to see us turn up the pressure and fight back for two goals, the most we had ever scored in our four meetings against the much larger SEC school," said Spitzer.

Samford started three freshmen in the match and got a chance to see 20 players over the course of the match. "I was pleased with the fact that all four freshman who saw action, including three starters, learned what it will take to compete at the collegiate level. To get an assist from one freshman and have three shots accounted for by freshman bodes well as they gain experience before the TAAC season opens," said Spitzer. "If you are not going to come out on the top of the scoreline then this type of game is a good learning experience for the team. All of the players saw time against a large SEC program and each one took away some positive individual information on how to pick up their game before next weekend."

Both teams will play again on Friday as Samford will travel to the Bruin Classic in Nashville, Tenn. Mississippi State will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take part in Bama Classic.