Ole Miss soccer landed two key transfers in Mary Kate Smith and Julia Phillips, head coach Matthew Mott announced Monday.
Phillips joins the Rebels after a year with Florida State, where she helped lead the squad to a 14-4-4 record. In her time in Tallahassee, the Seminoles fell no lower than No. 13 in the top-25 poll, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship.
The 5-foot-6-inch sophomore midfielder captained the Virginia State ODP team during its 2011 trip to Germany and played for FC Virginia ECNL. Phillips attended Bishop O’Connell and Stone Bridge High School and was a varsity starter as a freshman. She was named a finalist for Virginia Player of the Year as a sophomore.
“Julia is a very good midfielder who can score with either foot. She’s very good in the air and very good in possession. We’re excited to bring her in so she can help strengthen our midfield. Getting her here this semester will certainly help her to play in the SEC,” Mott said.
Smith starts her final two years at Ole Miss after previous stops at Southern Miss and, most recently, Jones County Junior College. The Ellisville, Mississippi, native was named a NJCAA Division I Honorable Mention All-American and All-Region 23 performer after scoring 21 goals and 18 assists in 2016.
The 5-foot-4-inch midfielder was named first team all-district as a freshman, sophomore and junior in high school and was named to the 2015 South All-Star team. Besides playing club soccer for Gulf Coast United, Smith also played football in high school.
“Mary Kate comes highly recommended from a number of coaches I respect. She’s a hard-working, fast forward that can play also in midfield. Watching video on her, I think she’s someone that could come in and help us right away. She comes to us from the same area as Sara Coleman, and there have been a lot of comparisons between the two. We look for her to be a very good player for us,” Mott said.
