University of Georgia Athletics
No. 13 Bulldogs Look To Rebound Against Mississippi State
October 10, 2009 | Soccer
Georgia (10-2-1, 3-2-0 SEC) dropped a 1-0 decision to Ole Miss on Friday and enters Sunday’s game tied for third in the SEC East with Tennessee, four points behind South Carolina and one point behind Florida.
“Our only other regular season loss was to LSU, and all we can do is hydrate, recover, stretch and learn from video,” head coach Patrick Baker said. “They’ve been good with that and it’s been a good trend. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes early in the game against Ole Miss. We addressed some of those things at halftime, cleaned those mistakes up and played better. The question will be can we carry that over to Sunday. If that is our starting point against Mississippi State, we are going to be in a good spot.”
Mississippi State (8-3-2, 0-3-2 SEC) is coming off 3-0 loss at Tennessee on Friday. The Bulldogs are led by Kat Walsh’s seven goals, while Rachel Wannek has four. Keeper Taryn Holland, who has started 12 of 13 games, has 52 saves and four shutouts. All three of Mississippi State’s losses have come in SEC games, against Auburn and Alabama and the Vols.
Georgia is led by Carrie Patterson and Jamie Pollock, who have six goals apiece this season. Michelle Betos has six shutouts and had a season-high eight saves against Ole Miss. Georgia has allowed one or fewer goals in each of the last 10 home games dating back to last season.
Prior to the loss Friday night, Georgia had outscored its previous three SEC opponents 6-0 including a 3-0 shutout of Vanderbilt on Sunday. Natalie Farley had the game-winning goal in the victory and was named the Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week and to the Soccer America National Team of the Week.
Georgia leads the all-time series with Mississippi State, 8-3, including a 3-1 mark under Baker. The last two meetings have been low scoring affairs with Georgia winning 1-0 last year in Starkville after Mississippi State won 1-0 in 2007.
Admission is free and the game will be televised live by CSS. After Sunday’s game, Georgia continues its five-game homestand when South Carolina and Florida visit next weekend.
