STARKVILLE – Mississippi State soccer found a birthday present for head coach James Armstrong in their 2-0 rout of Troy on Saturday afternoon.

A physical game between the Bulldogs (5-4-3) and the Trojans (4-10-1) ended in the Dawgs’ favor, with State finding their second-straight clean sheet and third-straight win.

Troy had the advantage when it came to size, but State made up for it in their physicality and grit. The Bulldogs out-shot the Trojans 21 to 5 and had 10 shots on goal.

Both of the Bulldogs goals came in the first half, with Monigo Karnley scoring her third game-winning goal of the season in the 26^th minute. Madison Cotta served the ball to Birna Jóhannsdóttir who placed it perfectly for Karnley to head it past the Trojan netminder.

“We wanted to come out, play our game and show some personality,” said Karnley. “As the ball went wide, I tried to get on the blindside of the center back because she can’t see me and the ball. Thank god Birna found me that close. I just tried to head it down and pray that it went in, and it did.”

In the 35^th minute, a scrum off a set piece had Hannah Telleysh finding her foot on the ball. KK Pavatt crossed it in front of the goal and the junior was able to toe it into the goal, with Hailey Farrington-Bentil assuring it hit the net.

“We want to continually build on what we do in practice and make sure that each game week we get better,” said Telleysh. “Eventually we will be at our peak performance.”

Telleysh scored her first career goal last week against Arkansas State, a screamer from 25 yards out off a Red Wolves turnover.

The Bulldogs have found three-straight wins, with two-straight matches having a clean sheet. Against the Red Wolves, Hannah Pimentel came in at half to take over a goalkeeper. Against Troy, she earned her first career start. The sophomore had a crucial save in the final minutes of the second half with a crew of Trojans surrounding the goal. She played her first full 90-minute match and finished without a goal allowed.

State donned white warmup tees with teal “No One Fights Alone” lettering in honor of MSU Softball’s Alex Wilcox. The SEC’s softball programs all wore teal this weekend in Wilcox’s memory and to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

Up next for the Bulldogs is their final home match of the season, a Thursday afternoon matchup with Columbus State. Mississippi State soccer has never faced the Cougars on the pitch. The match is set for 3 p.m. on April 3.

For more information about the Bulldog soccer program, search “HailStateSOC” on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.