The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Makes Weekend Trip Through Missouri
9/19/2002 | Soccer
Sept. 19, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. - Finishing up a four-game road swing, Ole Miss puts its undefeated soccer record on the line this weekend in a tour through Missouri. The Rebels travel to Southwest Missouri State Friday at 7 p.m. CST and Missouri Sunday at 1.
On the strength of a Kelly Renie scoring spree, the Rebels improved to 5-0-1 last weekend with a 2-2 tie Friday at Wyoming and a 3-0 triumph Sunday at Colorado. A redshirt freshman from Carmel, Ind., Renie notched four goals on the weekend including her first career hat trick against the Buffaloes.
Renie has three multiple-goal games in her first season of competition with the Red and Blue and currently ranks top 10 in the nation in goals with eight and total points with 19.
The CU shutout was the Rebels' fourth in six games this season, and gave junior Brittany Gillespie, who is among the SEC's top three keepers, the seventh shutout of her career. The Modesto, Calif., native leads an Ole Miss defense that is allowing the third-fewest goals and overall points in the conference.
Coming off a 10-9-1 season in which they advanced to the MVC Championship final, the Bears are off to a 3-3 start with only seven goals through six games. Senior forward Julia Yank has a pair of scores, including the game-winner in last Friday's 3-2 victory at Eastern Illinois.
The Rebels are 3-0 all-time against SMS, and last defeated the Bears, 4-2, as part of the 2000 KU Jayhawk Classic in Lawrence, Kan.
"We don't want to look past Southwest Missouri State," said UM head coach Steve Holeman. "We're carrying a lot of momentum from last weekend. But we don't want to be comfortable with where we are. We need to continue to work hard and improve and take it one game at a time."
Ole Miss face its third Big 12 opponent of the young season in Mizzou, having already knocked off Kansas and Colorado. With a 4-1-1 mark, Missouri sits fifth in the Central Region rankings, just ahead of the Rebels in eighth, after opening the year with two wins and a tie against top-25 teams.
Freshman forward Amber Swinehart is leading the Tigers offensively with three goals and seven points thus far this season, while junior goalkeeper Megan Duncan has recorded two shutouts and a 0.89 goals-against average.
"Missouri is our biggest non-conference game of the year," Holeman said. "With them ahead of us in the region, we know we need to beat teams like Missouri to make the NCAA Tournament. No doubt our team will be motivated to play their best."
The first ever meeting between the Rebels and Tigers will be broadcast live on the internet by KCOU-Radio 88.1 at www.kcou.missouri.edu.
