STARKVILLE — This is the atmosphere and moment Skylar Rosson came to Mississippi State to create.
The stakes for the women’s soccer team regular-season finale against the University of Kentucky at 7 tonight also have kept her motivated through two knee surgeries.
“The intensity is so much higher in practice right now and there is no denying it has to be that way because it’s so tough to win in this league,” Rosson said. “We’re finally ready to make some noise in one of the best conferences in the nation.”
MSU (5-8-3, 2-5-1 Southeastern Conference) will take the field against Kentucky hoping to maintain its hold on the eighth and final spot for SEC tournament in Orange Beach, Ala.
Seven teams already have 12 or more points and appear to have secured spots in the tournament, which begins Nov. 2. With three regular-season games remaining for all 12 teams, MSU is tied with Alabama with seven points. The teams tied 2-2 on Sept. 30. Vanderbilt and Arkansas have six points and Ole Miss has three.
The head-to-head result is the first tiebreaker. The second is goal differential in conference games. MSU is minus-6, while Alabama is minus-9
MSU, which lost to Arkansas 1-0 earlier in the season, will play at 2 p.m. Sunday at Vanderbilt and Oct. 28 at Ole Miss. Vanderbilt will play today at Ole Miss.
Rosson hopes she and her teammates can help MSU secure its first berth in the SEC tournament since 2004, and just the program’s third trip to the annual event. The idea of building a consistently competitive program at MSU intrigued Rosson, who is from Edmond, Okla., enough to turn down offers from several Big 12 Conference schools, including Oklahoma, and come to Starkville in 2008.
“I took a few visits and just really liked the atmosphere and felt like this is where I belonged,” Rosson said.
For a program that had won only two conference matches in the previous three seasons, Rosson said MSU has matured with young talent that has suffered through the frustrations of playing top programs in the SEC.
“This sounds cheesy, but we’re so much more a family on this year’s team,” Rosson said. “People don’t think that makes a difference, but chemistry is so important on and off the field.”
The redshirt junior goalkeeper is a big part of the reason MSU controls its postseason fate. She made 13 saves Sunday in a 1-0 upset of then-No. 11 Florida in Starkville. The shutout was her second against a ranked opponent this season and earned her SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
“Skylar is very deserving of this honor. Her performances this weekend were outstanding,” MSU coach Neil Macdonald said. “Sunday might have been the best goalkeeping performance I’ve seen in my time coaching at Mississippi State.”
It seems like a lifetime ago when Rosson spent the first two seasons of her college career on the bench after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.
“I’ve torn that same knee three times and there’s always a reason when things like that happen because sitting and watching gave me some time to think how important soccer was to me,” Rosson said. “I feel like I came back better than I was before my injuries. Now I have the motivation I needed. My teammates made me stay positive.”
Rosson is tied for fifth in school history in single-season shutouts, and her seven clean sheets are the third most all-time. Rosson, who has 103 saves this season, said an early goal will be key tonight if MSU is to beat Kentucky. She said she and her teammates felt confident holding a 1-0 lead after scoring in the first minute against Florida.
“We got so much adrenaline when we scored that goal and rode it through 89 and half minutes,” Rosson said. “Winning Sunday gives us that much needed extra push to get through these next three games.”
MSU will look for another big showing from sophomore Elizabeth Sullivan. The Memphis, Tenn., native scored her fourth goal of the season 37 seconds into the match against Florida. In addition to her four goals, Sullivan has three assists for a team-high 11 points.
Sullivan is tied for the team lead in goals with junior Jasmine Simmons, who has nine points.
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