Sept. 18, 2001

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Mississippi State scored three second half goals and held off several Samford threats to shut out the Bulldogs, 4-0 at Samford Soccer Field Tuesday night. MSU redshirt freshman Crystal Christensen scored two of State's goals while Amber Rose and Jessi Moore each added a goal in the win.

"I wasn't surprised by their (Samford) fight and overall ability," MSU head coach Neil McGuire said. "I thought they played us well. In the first half, they had the ball going their way. They could have had a couple of goals."

Samford had the Bulldogs from State on the back of their heels early. In the sixth minute of the game, forward Heather Pomper had MSU's goalkeeper Krystal Werges beat and rifled a shot from 20 yards out on the right side, but the ball hit the right side of the cross bar and bounced away.

Twelve minutes later, Pomper's corner kick couldn't find a teammate and MSU went the other way with the ball. State had a goal taken away when a shot from Christensen found the net but MSU was called for offsides negating the goal.

State scored the first goal of the game in the 40th minute. Freshman Ngum Suh crossed the ball from the right and Christensen found it in traffic and knocked it in to put MSU up 1-0.

Mississippi State scored its second goal of the game six minutes into the second half. Amber Rose took the assist from Stacey Smith and Jessica Kauffman and headed in a ball for a 2-0 MSU advantage.

Samford would receive a blow eight minutes into the second half. Freshman midfielder Lisa Stucki was given a red card forcing the Bulldogs to play a man down. Samford tried to get back into the contest but State's defense stiffened dodging bullet after bullet.

MSU added two late goals in the 80th minute of play. Christensen took the pass from Rose and right-footed a shot from 15 yards out making it, 3-0 in State's favor. The final goal of the game came in the 85th minute. Jessi Moore rifled a shot in after a deflection to make for the final score.

Samford senior goalkeeper Carrie Ollom eclipsed the 300 save mark in her career. Ollom tied a season-high nine saves giving her 304 career saves.

MSU outshot Samford 20-8 and had the advantage in corner kicks 6-3.

"I'm proud of the team. State's a good team. We played tough and made opportunities for ourselves," Samford head coach Barry Spitzer said. "We played a man down and they scored two goals in the last minutes. We just need to take that passion and type of play into conference games and we'll win them when it matters."

Samford will host Lipscomb at 6 p.m. Thursday for its second consecutive home game. MSU will travel to Jacksonville State Friday at 7 p.m.