Rebel Soccer Visits Samford Saturday For Preseason Exhibition

OXFORD, Miss. Ole Miss continues to gear up for the start of the 2008 soccer season when the Rebels travel east for Saturday's exhibition match against Samford.

Kickoff for the Rebels’ lone preseason exhibition contest will be 1 p.m. at the Bulldog Soccer Field in Birmingham.

Samford has been a dominant power in the Ohio Valley Conference in recent years. The Bulldogs return nine starters from their squad that went 15-5-1 and finished second in the OVC last season en route to an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, their second trip to the Big Dance in the last three years.

Ole Miss also returns nine starters this season and looks to improve on its 7-8-5 record from a year ago. A strong group of seven seniors, including former All-SEC picks Amy Bayles and Jennifer Hance, look to lead the Rebels heading into the 2008 campaign.

The two squads also matched up in a preseason exhibition game last year. Ole Miss secured a 3-0 win in Oxford behind goals from Mallory Coleman, Hance and Austin Brown. In their lone regular-season contest, the Rebels defeated the Bulldogs 1-0 on Sept. 27, 2002 in Oxford.

Following Saturday’s exhibition, Ole Miss will kick off the 2008 regular season with three straight road matches, beginning with the Aug. 22 season opener at Western Kentucky. A Texas-sized trip to face SMU and TCU follows the next weekend leading up to the Sept. 5 home opener against the Memphis Tigers.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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