The University of Mississippi Athletics
Soccer Earns First NCAA Tournament Berth
11/11/2002 | Soccer
Nov. 11, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss achieved its greatest goal Monday afternoon, earning its first ever berth in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship Tournament. The Rebels will travel to Tallahassee, Fla., this weekend for a first-round match with Florida State as part of a four-team regional with Auburn and Central Florida.
"This has been our biggest goal for the last four years," said Ole Miss head coach Steve Holeman, who has been with the program since its inception in 1994. "This team has worked extremely hard to reach this achievement. This is our best team yet at Ole Miss, and they certainly deserve this."
"We've been anticipating this moment. We knew were right on the bubble, which made it that much more exciting."
Friday's 7 p.m. ET match with the 21st-ranked Seminoles (11-6-3) will mark only the second meeting between the two schools. A 1996 encounter between Ole Miss and FSU in Atlanta, Ga., resulted in a 2-2 tie.
The winner between the Rebels and 'Noles advances to face the Auburn-UCF victor on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at Seminole Soccer Complex. Tickets for all weekend games are now available on-line at www.seminoles.com or by calling 1-888-FSU-NOLE.
Ole Miss and Auburn are two of four teams from the Southeastern Conference in the Big Dance joining Tennessee and Kentucky, who are in the same regional in Knoxville, Tenn.
The 64-team, single-elimination tournament culminates with the final four teams competing for the national championship at the NCAA College Cup, hosted this year by Texas and played at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Dec. 6-8.
With a 13-4-2 mark, the Rebels are enjoying their finest season to date. They boast their best single-season winning percentage (.737) and are only one victory shy of matching their highest season win total.
