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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Notes for SEC Soccer Tournament
11/6/2001 | Soccer
Nov. 6, 2001
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2001 SEC TOURNAMENT
NOVEMBER 8-11 * LSU SOCCER COMPLEX (Baton Rouge, La.)
OPENING ROUND * GAME 3 (Thursday, 5 p.m. CST)
NO. 7 OLE MISS (9-9-1, 4-5 SEC) vs. NO. 2 MISSISSIPPI STATE (13-7-0, 5-4 SEC)
Ole Miss is making its fifth straight SEC Tournament appearance. The Rebels are the only Western Division team to have earned a tournament berth the past five seasons and are the West's winningest team (both overall at .580 and in league play at .477) over that stretch. For the first time in two years, Ole Miss will be seeded lower than No. 2, holding the No. 7 spot. UM is 2-4 in SEC Tournament action with its best finish coming in 1999 when the team advanced to the championship game to play Florida.
OPENING ROUND: This year's opening round provides Ole Miss a rematch of its regular season finale against Mississippi State, a 2-1 double-overtime win for the Bulldogs that dethroned the two-time defending SEC West Champion Rebels. Last year's meeting between the two schools also went into two overtimes and ended in a 0-0 tie. The all-time series between the in-state foes is knotted a 3-3-1. This season marks the first time State has ever earned the West title or an SEC Tournament berth.
LAST TIME OUT: Last Friday in Oxford, Ole Miss and Mississippi State battled for over 119 minutes before Bulldog Jessi Moore broke ahead of the pack for the game-winning goal, 2-1, with 16 seconds left in double overtime. MSU jumped ahead in the 10th minute and maintained the 1-0 lead until the 62:14 mark, when Rebel Anna Sanders drove in from the right side and ripped a shot to the back of the net from 13 yards away, set up by Kristal Menard. What followed was 57 scoreless minutes of clawing back and forth, with the squads trading shots and saves. When it seemed a second straight tie between the rivals would be the result, MSU's Amy Van Zandt took a short punt and fed a streaking Moore, who drove in one-on-one with the keeper and booted the ball to the bottom right corner of the net from 10 yards out.
FAMILIAR FOE: Rebel senior Melinda Smith will likely be making her fifth start in goal against Mississippi State, more than any other opponent for the keeper from Tacoma, Wash. Despite last Friday's loss, Smith boasts a 2-1-1 mark against the Bulldogs with two shutouts and a 1.39 goals-against average. Smith enters her final SEC Tournament as the UM career leader in GAA (1.53), goalkeeper wins (28), shutouts (14.7) and saves (222).
CLOSE CALLS: Seven of the Rebels' last eight matches have been decided by one goal, with four resulting in UM victories. Ole Miss has gone 5-5 in one-goal games this season with three of those wins coming in overtime. Ole Miss has played five overtime matches this year and posted a 3-1-1 record.
RECORD CROWDS: The Ole Miss-Mississippi State battle last Friday drew what is believed to be the the largest crowd ever to watch a soccer match in the state of Mississippi. The 1,791 attendance easily toppled the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium's previous high of 1,133 from a 1998 LSU matchup. Also this season, the Rebels' game with Alabama on October 12 attracted a crowd of 971 - the third-highest single-game attendance in the history of the stadium.
INJURY BUG: The latest player to join the list of Rebel wounded is leading scorer Tiffany Weiss, who suffered a head injury in the second half vs. South Carolina. The sophomore forward is listed as day-to-day. Ole Miss lost three of its members this season to torn anterior cruciate ligaments. Sophomore Erin Edmundson, who had started every game at defender over the last two seasons, tore her ACL late in the first half against Duquesne. She joined junior Megan Bowman, who went down in the Northern Arizona game, and freshman Kelly Renie, who suffered the injury in May and has missed the entire season.