FRIDAY: OLE MISS 1, NO. 13 USC 1
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Rafaelle Souza scored the only goal of the match, but a big defensive performance by the Rebels saw the squad remain undefeated as Ole Miss (4-0-1) and No. 13 Southern California (3-0-1) played to a 1-1 draw Friday night.
Souza delivered her goal off a pass from Mandy McCalla in a quick answer to the Trojan goal as both teams scored within three minutes of each other on an afternoon that saw solid play by both keepers. Ole Miss’ Kelly McCormick posted six saves on the afternoon, while the USC keeper posted three saves.
“Our team really battled today and gutted it out,” said Ole Miss head coach Matt Mott. “Our effort and intensity level was awesome. It was a high-level competition with two very talented teams going at each other. We played so hard, especially with our back line and defense of Kelly (McCormick) in goal.”
“We came out in the second half committed to playing better than we did in the first,” Mott said. “We came out determined that we would not lose this match. We came out flying around and carried that through the overtime. We were going to find a way to win this match if we could today.”
SUNDAY: MINNESOTA 2, OLE MISS 1 (OT)
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Rafaelle Souza connected on a penalty kick in the 71st minute, but the Golden Gophers got a late penalty kick and an overtime goal to pick up the win as Ole Miss (4-1-1) fell to Minnesota (6-0-0) in the Minnesota Gold Classic on Sunday.
A pair of penalty kicks played a role in sending the Rebels to an overtime match for the second time on the weekend as the Golden Gophers evened things up in the 87th minute following a hand ball call in the box against Ole Miss.
Minnesota then hit the golden goal in the 98th minute when a deflected ball in the box was gathered by Josee Stiever and sent out of the crowd and into the net to end the match.
“It was a good weekend for us on the road coming to a Big 10 area and playing two good teams,” said Ole Miss head coach Matthew Mott. “We’re disappointed we didn’t get a result today. We had it late and started to run out of gas. The kids played hard, but Minnesota was a little fresher than us.
“We have to get home and prepare to go back out on the road to start next weekend before we come home to host Memphis on Sunday night,” Mott said. “We’ll be excited to get home and play in front of our crowd, but first we have to prepare for another road match on Friday.”
