STARKVILLE – Head coach James Armstrong and the Mississippi State soccer program have announced the schedule for the 2022 season, with 10 of the 18 matches being held at MSU Soccer Field. The Bulldogs will leave the state of Mississippi only five times during the regular season.

 

“We are very excited to announce this season’s very challenging schedule,” Armstrong said. “There is a variety in conferences with all opponents coming off a successful prior season. We can’t wait to play in front of our fans again soon.”

 

The Bulldogs will kick the season off at home with back-to-back exhibition matches versus Samford (Aug. 11) and Southeastern Louisiana (Aug. 14).

 

The regular season will begin in South Beach with a pair of matches, as the Maroon and White will face both Miami (FL) (Aug. 18) and Florida International (Aug. 21) during the weekend-long trip.

 

Upon returning to Starkville, MSU will play in front of its home crowd in four-straight matches, carrying over into early September. The home stretch will feature Lipscomb (Aug. 25), Minnesota (Aug. 28), South Alabama (Sept. 1) and Louisiana Tech (Sept. 4). The games mark the longest stretch of nonconference home games for MSU before entering the competitive conference portion of the season.

 

Mississippi State will then make the short drive to Hattiesburg (Sept. 8) to face Southern Miss, before returning home and facing Presbyterian College (Sept. 11) in what will be the final Southeastern Conference tune up match of the regular season.

 

The rest of the way for MSU will be SEC play, featuring five games against teams who finished the 2021 season either ranked in the top-18 or who received votes. Three out of the five will be at home, with two being played in back-to-back road trips.

 

State will open the SEC slate at home against the 2021 Conference Tournament runner-up, the Arkansas Razorbacks (Sept. 16) who ended the season ranked sixth in the country. The Bulldogs will then alternate home-away the rest of the month, traveling to both Texas A&M (Sept. 22) and Missouri (Sept. 30) and hosting LSU (Sept. 25).

 

The last month of the regular season will begin at home versus South Carolina (Oct. 6), who ended the season ranked No. 10 in the nation. The Maroon and White will then take a two-match road trip, facing two semifinalists from last season’s SEC Tournament –  the Auburn Tigers (Oct. 9) who received votes in last season’s final rankings, as well as in-state rival Ole Miss (Oct. 13) where the Bulldogs will look to maintain possession of the Magnolia Cup for the third-consecutive year. Despite the historic upset for MSU, the Rebels still ended their 2021 campaign ranked No. 18 in the nation.

 

A week later, the Bulldogs will welcome Alabama to Starkville (Oct. 20), a team who received votes in the final poll of the 2021 season, before its final road trip of the regular season in Nashville, Tennessee, against Vanderbilt (Oct. 23).

 

The Bulldogs will conclude their 2022 regular season at home on Oct. 27, against Georgia.

 

Keeping Up With MSU Soccer

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