Ole Miss 3, Alabama 2
The Rebels overcame a 2-0 halftime deficit to defeat Alabama 3-2 Friday night at the Ole Miss Soccer Complex. As a result, the Rebels picked up their first SEC victory of the season.
“We knew at halftime that we had the character to come back,” head coach Matthew Mott said. “I thought we dominated the second half and scored three very good goals.”
Alabama struck twice in the first half, and senior defender and captain Samantha Sanders left the game with a knee injury, but the Rebels came out in the second half with renewed energy, scoring just 17 seconds into the period. Junior striker Addie Forbus scored her seventh goal of the season, beating the Alabama goalkeeper one on one.
“I knew I had to make some kind of move to get the keeper off balance, and I just tucked it away,” Forbus said.
After scoring, Forbus ran to Sanders and embraced her.
“I told her that was for her,” Forbus said. “Coach Mott challenged us at halftime to play for one of our soldiers who is down, and we played that game for her.”
Sophomore midfielder Liza Harbin scored her first career goal 11 minutes later to tie the game at 2.
“It was a corner kick from Gretchen (Harknett), and she placed it right on the back corner,” Harbin said. “I thought Jess (Hiskey) was going to get it, but it went over her head and went off my right shoulder and tucked into the left side.”
Freshman forward and defender CeCe Kizer scored the game winner for the Rebels, her tenth goal of the season. Harknett played a pass to Kizer at the top left corner of the box and Kizer curled it into the top corner to give Ole Miss the win.
Ole Miss 2, LSU 0
It took a team effort for the Rebels to earn a 2-0 victory over the LSU Tigers Sunday night. Ole Miss improved to 8-2-2, while LSU fell to 7-3-2.
“That was the best game we’ve played in a number of years,” Mott said. “We were dominant from the first kick. That was a really dangerous LSU team, so I’m really happy with the team and the performance.”
Harknett opened the scoring for the Rebels in the 17th minute. She took a pass from Harbin near the edge of the box, turned and took a shot with her left foot that looped over the Tiger goalkeeper and into the net.
“It was built up well,” Harknett said. “Liza (Harbin) carried the ball up, and I peeled off into the space and took a touch and took a good shot. It was a nice goal.”
Forbus added to the Rebel lead in the 69th minute, when a loose ball fell to her at the top of the box and she sent it past the diving Tiger goalkeeper and into the left side of the net.
The Rebel defense shut down an LSU offense that featured the nation’s leading scorer in sophomore striker Jorian Baucom, holding her to just one shot in the first half and seven overall.
“We had a good game plan,” Mott said. “We fronted her a bunch, we tried to double team her a bunch. Our game plan worked great, and our girls were up for it.”
Ole Miss hits the road this weekend to take on Missouri and Arkansas.
“We’ve talked about it a bunch, we need to continue to play hard and have a good week of practice,” Mott said. “Missouri is a very tough team.”
Kickoff against Missouri Friday night is scheduled for 7 p.m.
