NCAA Tournament First Round
NM State (13-5-3, 7-3-2 WAC) vs. #7 Mississippi State (12-5-4, 4-4-2 SEC)
Friday, Nov. 11 | 2:00 p.m. (MDT) | MSU Soccer Complex | Starkville, Mississippi
Final: NM State 1, Mississippi St. 2
BOX SCORE
STARKVILLE, Miss. – NM State women's soccer's historical run has finally come to an end as they fall to Mississippi State 2-1 Friday night.
The Aggies put up a fight. Most teams would've thrown in the towel after going down 1-0 at half time to a power five opponent like MSU - but that's not what Rob Baarts and his team does. They are coached to fight and grind until the final whistle, and that's what they did tonight and throughout the entire season.
"Its tough to have words right now - I think it's just an emotional game. I'm so incredibly proud of my staff, my team, the school, I mean what these guys have done for our school has been super special this year." Coach Baarts said after the game.
"Watching what Mississippi state have done here for soccer, I think it's kinda of very similar, I think it's a fitting match to be a war like that. It's tough to be the last few minutes of the game to get the goal, but you know what, it's the game and we're going to get stronger from it, and I'm so incredibly proud of my team." Baarts iterated.
Loma McNeese scored the only goal for the Aggies in the 74th- minute of the match. The score came off a Bianca Chacon assist - her ninth assist of the season, which tied her with Devin Hart (2009) for most assists tallied in a season in program history. For McNeese, she is now tied with Aileen Garcia (2017) for third most goals scored in a single season (10).
"I think though-out the season I gained a level of confidence in using my body and I think that I've always been confident in that, so when that ball slipped right through by Bianca [Chacon] I just used my body to protect the ball and went up and shot" McNeese stated.
The season might be over, but there is plenty upside in this program for the future, especially with only three seniors leaving after this season.
"The path that these seniors have laid, it's a foundation that we won't take lightly. The girls that come in, the freshman that come in next fall will know exactly what our standard is because of what these guys have done, and they will never be able to drop that now" Coach Baarts finally stated.
New Mexico State will move over to Conference USA next season as they close out their final season in the WAC as Champions.
PERFORMANCES / STATS OF NOTE
- The Bulldogs outshot the Aggies 16-9
- MSU also had five more shots on goal that the Aggies (8-3)
- Loma McNeese scored her 10th goal of the season putting her in a tie with Aileen Garcia (2017) for third for most goals scored in a single season.
- Bianca Chacon picked up her team leading ninth assist of the season putting her in a tied with Devin Heart (2009) for most assists in a season.
- Makenna Gottschalk nearly tied her season high in saves after securing six in the match, allowing just one goal.
- This marked the end of a near 400-minute scoreless streak for Gottschalk. She went 382.38 consecutive minutes without allowing a score.
++NM State ++
