Friday: No. 7 Florida 4, No. 24 Ole Miss 1
No. 24 Ole Miss (8-2-1, 1-1 SEC) suffered its first conference and first home loss of the season on Friday, losing 4-1 to the No. 7 Florida Gators (8-1-1, 2-0).
The game got out of hand quickly for the Rebels, who allowed Florida to score three goals in the first 16 minutes of action. One of those goals was by SEC leading scorer freshman forward Savannah Jordan, who is closely trailed by Ole Miss’ senior forward Rafaelle Souza. Following that onslaught, Ole Miss was able to contain the Gators, only allowing a fourth goal in the last minute of play. However, the Rebels were not able to muster enough offense of their own, with sophomore forward Bethany Bunker scoring the lone goal for the Rebels.
“We certainly got run over a little bit tonight in the first half,” head coach Matt Mott said. “Florida came out and really took it to us early. We’ll watch a little film in the morning and then flush it to get ready for Auburn.”
He also noted that the lack of ball pressure was a mistake by the whole team, and not just the back line. Junior goalkeeper Kelly McCormick repeated Mott’s words, saying that the team would take the game and “flush it” and move on to the next game.
Sunday: No. 24 Ole Miss 7, Auburn 0
The Rebels (9-2-1, 2-1) certainly did move on from the Florida match in a big way on Sunday afternoon, defeating Auburn (4-6-1, 0-3) in dominating fashion, 7-0.
After Ole Miss scored two goals in the first four minutes of play, Auburn put on some pressure of their own, but could never get the ball in the net. McCormick recorded her sixth shut-out of the year, recording three saves but making a number of big plays against a persistent Auburn attack.
“We came out with a vengeance and we won it,” McCormick said.
Senior midfielder Mandy McCalla, who had been on pace with Souza for the team lead in goals through most of the non-conference portion of the schedule, said she was happy with her new role as midfielder.
“I gotta keep passing, distributing,” McCalla said. “I’m not a forward like I used to be, so I have to keep getting it to those scorers. It’s always nice to score, though.”
Bunker also had two goals in the match, while sophomore forward Olivia Harrison, senior midfielder Emily Reid and freshman forward Addie Forbus all scored a goal each. Souza, who did not score in either of the weekend’s matches, did pick up three more assists against Auburn.
Ole Miss will be back in action again on Friday in Knoxville, against Tennessee.
