Rafaelle Souza (6) tries to get a shot off during a soccer game against No. 7 South Carolina last Sunday.
Photo by Austin McAfee I The Daily Mississippian
The Ole Miss soccer team will follow one of its toughest and most successful weekends of the season by facing the best team in the Southeastern Conference in Texas A&M on the road tonight before hosting Alabama Sunday.
Texas A&M (12-3-1, 7-1 SEC) hasn’t lost a game in over a month, and it has averaged 3.5 goals per game in those seven games, all wins. Junior forward Shea Groom leads the team in scoring with 10 goals on the season, and is sixth in the conference. They lead the conference in shots and shots on goal taken by wide margins.
Fortunately for the Rebels, they are one of the few teams in the conference that can both score and defend with the Aggies. Ole Miss (12-3-2, 5-2-1 SEC) is coming off a weekend that saw them beat LSU, tie with South Carolina in double overtime and reclaim a national ranking in the process. The Rebels moved back into the 23rd spot in the NSCAA rankings this week.
Ole Miss can’t help but look ahead to postseason play, as the Rebels’ play so far this season has put them in prime position to reach the NCAA tournament.
“This past weekend, beating LSU and tying South Carolina, has put us in a very good spot,” Rebel head coach Matt Mott said Monday in his weekly press conference. “We’re in the 20s in RPI right now. It certainly puts us in the tournament if it ended today. We have to take care of business with these last three, starting with A&M on Friday.”
Ole Miss will continue to rely on the services of seniors Rafaelle Souza and Mandy McCalla, who are near the top of the scoring race in the SEC as well. Souza netted her 14th goal of the season against LSU, and McCalla has 11 goals on the season as well.
However, senior goalkeeper Kelly McCormick has been “fantastic” all year, according to head coach Matt Mott, and will be an important piece of the puzzle as Ole Miss looks forward to the last stretch of the regular season and postseason play.
“She’s been great all year,” Mott said. “Her distribution is good, but her shot stopping has been fantastic. We hope she continues to play the way she is now.”
McCormick and the rest of the Rebels’ somewhat maligned back line will need to be in top form for an A&M team that Mott said has “athletes all over the field.”
Following Friday’s match, the Rebels will return home to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sunday.
Alabama (5-10-0, 3-5-0 SEC) has not won in two weeks and is currently on a four-game losing streak.
Friday’s match is scheduled for kickoff at 7 p.m., and Sunday’s match will start at 1 p.m. at the Ole Miss Soccer Complex.
