Georgia Ties Mississippi State, 2-2

Thursday, September 23

Athens, Ga.

6 p.m.

University of Georgia

7-2-1, 0-1-1

Mississippi State

2-3-3, 0-1-1

Mississippi St.

Georgia

September 23, 2021 | Soccer

Box Score Box Score

ATHENS, Ga. – In the first home conference match of the season, the University of Georgia soccer team played to a 2-2 draw against Mississippi State Thursday evening before 624 spectators at the Turner Soccer Complex.

For Georgia (7-2-1, 0-1-1 SEC), it was the first tie since a 1-1 result last March against Florida, while also marking the second-consecutive meeting with Mississippi State (2-3-3, 0-1-1 SEC) to enter overtime. The tie also ended Georgia's five-match winning streak at home.

Mississippi State outshot Georgia, 16-12, although both sets of Bulldogs posted six shots on goal and Georgia outshot by a 5-1 margin in the two overtime periods. The Bulldogs from Starkville also led in corner kicks, 8-6, while both teams tallied four saves. Graduate forward Mollie Belisle topped the team with six shots, her fifth-consecutive match with at least six, while also putting four on frame in a three-point outing.

"It's a typical league game," said Georgia head coach Billy Lesesne following the match. "A lot of tight games with teams that execute well and are really driven and motivated to work hard. I thought the teams had a bit of that on the day. I thought we had some good early execution…I don't think it was a lack of effort. It came down to just not finding a moment of pure execution that I thought we needed."

After a quiet opening 10 minutes, Belisle put Georgia on the board as she took a cross from senior midfielder Dani Murguia and capitalized on the Mississippi State goalkeeper coming too far out of the box for an easy goal. The score was Belisle's 11^th of the season, extending her nation-leading total and giving her the most for a Bulldog since Marion Crowder Cole reached 11 in 2013. Eight minutes later, the pair combined again for a second score as Belisle tapped out to Murguia, who drilled a shot from the top of the box for her sixth goal of the season, with Belisle picking up her first assist of the season.

The momentum was short-lived as Mississippi State cut the margin in half just 17 seconds later as Monigo Karnley scored from the top of the 18 off a long downfield pass from teammate Gwen Mummert. The Bulldogs would eventually tie the match in the 31^st minute as Andrea Tyrrell navigated a scrum in the box to put in a deflection for the equalizer. After four goals in the opening half hour of play, the remaining 90 minutes of play would prove scoreless.

In the second half, Belisle came close to a second goal with a shot that went high in the 58^th minute, while a couple of strong corner opportunities in the middle of the period went fruitless for Georgia. Following a save by senior goalkeeper Emory Wegener in the 79^th minute, both teams headed toward overtime without putting a shot on frame to close the second half.

In its first overtime of the season, Georgia earned a couple of opportunities to close out the match, notably a Belisle strike that was saved by the MSU keeper. In the second extra period, Georgia attempted to score late as it increased the offensive pressure, but the strong play of sophomore Maddy Anderson sealed the one-point result for both teams.

Georgia now returns to the road for its highest-profile match of the season, a meeting with No. 5 LSU (8-1-0, 1-1-0 SEC) on Sunday at noon at LSU Soccer Stadium. The match will be televised on ESPNU as the Tigers look to rebound from its first loss of the season, a 2-0 defeat at Ole Miss Thursday evening. A Georgia win would mark the first victory for the program over a top-five opponent since beating No. 4 Texas A&M in 2015.

For complete information on Georgia soccer, follow the team on its social media channels via @UGASoccer on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.