Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State Wins Drama-Filled Game 2-1 at SEC Championship Tournament

The Bulldogs beat Tennessee on a game-winning goal in the second overtime period, but not without the nation's best defense earning its reputation.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State Bulldogs mascot Bully dances on the court after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs at Humphrey Coliseum.
Mississippi State Bulldogs mascot Bully dances on the court after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs at Humphrey Coliseum. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

PENSACOLA, Fla. – It’s hard to pick one player or two players in a team sport and say “they’re the reason their team won” but Mississippi State soccer just made it pretty easy.

The Bulldogs’ kept their historic season alive Tuesday night in their quarterfinal match of the SEC Championship tournament against Tennessee, winning 2-1 in the second overtime.

And Aitana Martinez-Montoya and Maddy Anderson are the reasons why. (Honestly, if you need an explanation for why, go find a replay of the final two minutes of regulation and the 11 minutes of overtime played against the Volunteers. The waves of emotions you’ll experience in those 13 minutes rivals anything you’ve felt.)

Fast-forward through the game, past Hannah Johnson’s goal at the end of the first half and the own-goal for Tennessee that tied the game in the 73rd minute, to a moment with only a couple minutes left in regulation.

Tennessee has a corner kick that’s passed around until the Volunteers get a shot a wide open goal and take it. But Martinez-Montoya is in perfect position at the goal line to stop the shot that would’ve been a goal 99 times out of 100.

Then the game went into overtime and the game remained tied until 1:53 was left in the first of two 10-minute overtime periods.

Mississippi State’s SEC Goalkeeper of the Year Maddy Anderson was called for a foul inside the Bulldogs’ penalty box (to be fair, the defender who passed the ball to Anderson in that situation deserves more blame for the penalty kick).

Tennessee sent Mac Midgley (seven career goals, including four this season) to take the penalty kick, a scoring opportunity even better than the one Martinez-Montoya stopped. And Anderson stopped it, saving the Bulldogs’ like a doctor with a defibrillator.

The game went into the second overtime period, but didn’t last very long.

Tennessee kicked off to start the period, but quickly lost the ball to Johnson who dribbled down the field, gave a defender a flick on the right stick and sent a beautiful ball to a streaking Martinez-Montoya who played it perfectly and put the ball into the back of the net.

Game. Set. Match. And another SEC victory for Mississippi State.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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