Ole Miss Faces Kentucky in SEC Tournament First Round

Nov. 4, 2003

OXFORD, Miss. - For the second straight year, Ole Miss opens its soccer postseason with Kentucky. The fourth-seeded Rebels and fifth-seeded Wildcats match up in the SEC Tournament first round Thursday at 2 p.m. CT in Orange Beach, Ala.

After one of its most successful regular seasons ever, Ole Miss (13-4-2, 4-3-2 SEC) begins its new season with a rematch of last year's SEC Tournament opening-round match in Oxford. Kentucky prevailed 2-1 that night in the last meeting between the two schools, which both cracked the top 25 national rankings this season.

"Kentucky always has a quality team and a quality program," said Rebel head coach Steve Holeman. "We haven't faced them this year so they're going to offer us a new challenge. We just have to focus and come prepared to play our best game of the year."

Though the Cats suffered their first losing season since 1997, Kentucky (6-8-2, 4-3-2 SEC) played arguably its most difficult schedule in the 12-year history of the program with road matches at North Carolina, Arizona State, Florida and Auburn. Led by two-time All-SEC forward Elizabeth Ramsey's 21 total points, the Wildcats head to Orange Beach for their conference-leading 11th-consecutive trip to the SEC Tournament.

Meanwhile, the Rebels earn their seventh straight berth - a feat accomplished by not other Western Division club. Ole Miss finished second in the SEC West standings and top four in the conference overall for the second straight year. The Rebels tied its highest regular-season win total with 13 and still boasts its best single-season win percentage (.737). Friday's 0-0 tie with Mississippi State also marked the team's 11th shutout of the season, easily a school record.

Ole Miss has been working overtime lately, going into double OT in its last three matches without netting a goal in any of the three. However, the Rebels dominated play in the two scoreless ties with MSU and South Carolina, outshooting the two teams by a combined total of 61-11.

"It's just a matter of us maintaining focus on the field," Holeman said. "We've put ourselves in position and have created scoring chances, but we haven't finished. We know that we can score, it's just a matter of finishing the job."

Despite the recent goal slump, the Rebels remain the SEC leader in total points (146), assists (44) and shots (378) and ranks second in goals (51). Defensively Ole Miss is also the league's best in goals-against average (0.56) and is tied for tops in shutouts (11) and fewest goals allowed (11).

Last year's memorable postseason saw the Rebels claim the program's first NCAA Tournament berth. Holeman is looking for another special November, beginning this week in Orange Beach.

"This is definitely a new season, although everything we did in the regular season has prepared us for what lies ahead," Holeman said. "Anything can happen in a tournament. We know that we're playing at least one game, and our objective is to go down there looking to play more than one.

"We feel very good about where we are. The SEC is a great soccer conference and to finish in the top third of it means a lot. Our goals coming into the season included winning the SEC West. We didn't win the West, but we're still in a good position. It's always better to aim high and miss than to aim low and miss. We're certainly not satisfied with the No. 4 seed but it's still not a bad place to be."

Before falling to Kentucky in last year's Tournament, Ole Miss notched its first ever victory over the Wildcats with a 1-0 regular-season win in Lexington. UK boasts a 7-1 all-time edge with two wins coming in the SEC Tournament.

Ole Miss is 3-6 all-time in SEC Tournament matches with a pair of semi-final appearances. The Rebels' best tourney performance came in 1999, when the team advanced to the championship game.

The SEC Tournament is being played on a neutral site - the Orange Beach Soccer Complex - for the first time in the event's 11-year history. The single-elimination tourney features the conference's top eight teams, with seeding based on winning percentage in league games, regardless of division.

The Ole Miss-UK victor will be paired with the winner between No. 1 seed Tennessee and No. 8 South Carolina in the semi-finals Friday at 5 p.m.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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