Rebel Soccer Visits Vanderbilt For Thursday Night Game

OXFORD, Miss. Ole Miss will travel to Vanderbilt for a 7 p.m. Thursday night Southeastern Conference showdown at the Vanderbilt Soccer Complex.

The Rebels (5-9-2, 3-5 SEC) and Commodores (8-7-1, 2-6) are both jockeying for position in the SEC standings and a spot in the league’s postseason tournament. The top eight teams in the final regular season league standings advance to the tourney, and Ole Miss currently sits in ninth place just ahead of Vanderbilt in 10th. The Rebels are one of three league teams that have advanced to the tournament every year since 1997.

“I think Vanderbilt is very similar to Ole Miss,” said Rebel head coach Steve Holeman. “They have a very talented team, but they don’t have an SEC record that reflects it. It’s going to be a challenge for us. We have only beat Vanderbilt once, and never beaten them in Nashville. They are playing for an SEC berth, and so are we. They are going to bring their best, so we will have to be ready.”

Ole Miss is in the midst of a four-game losing streak in which the Rebels have lost each game by one goal to an SEC Eastern Division opponent. It is the first four-game skid for Ole Miss since the 1999 season.

The Rebel defense surrendered just two total goals against Tennessee and Georgia last weekend, but were handed a pair of 1-0 shutout defeats. The solid defense was in part due to the quality goalkeeping by true freshman Alley Ronaldi, who started and played in the second and third matches of her college career. She compiled a 0.92 goals-against average and eight saves over the weekend.

Vanderbilt lost a pair of one-goal decisions at LSU and Arkansas last weekend to drop to 2-6 in league play. For the season, the Commodores have out-scored their opponents 26-23, but they have been out-scored 15-10 in SEC games. Molly Kinsella tops the squad with five goals and four assists for 14 points. She ranks tied for first in the SEC with 73 shots taken.

The Commodores own a 4-1-4 edge over Ole Miss in the all-time series. The lone Rebel win came in 2001 when the Rebels earned a 1-0 victory in double overtime. The teams have played to a tie in four of the last five meetings, including last year’s 2-2 draw in Oxford.

Only two games remain on the regular season schedule following Thursday’s contest. Ole Miss returns home for Senior Day with a 1 p.m. matchup against Kentucky this Sunday before traveling to Mississippi State next Friday for the season finale.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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