Vanderbilt Snaps No. 17 Rebels? Six-Game Unbeaten Streak

OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss controlled the run of play for much of the contest, but Vanderbilt pushed across the only goal of the match as the No. 17 Rebels dropped a 1-0 decision to the Commodores in front of 1,060 fans at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium Sunday afternoon.

After scoreless soccer for the game's first 70 minutes, Vanderbilt's Kate Goldin scored into an open goal at the 71:11 mark, following a scramble in the box. Chelsea Stewart was credited with the assist.

Playing in front of the seventh-largest crowd in program history, it was Ole Miss' first loss in seven matches as the team dropped to 11-4-2 overall and 5-2-2 in Southeastern Conference action. The Rebels remain in second place in the SEC West behind LSU, which claimed a 1-0 win over South Carolina on Sunday. Vanderbilt improved to 10-7-1 overall and 4-6 in league play.

"This is a disappointing loss," Rebel head coach Steve Holeman said. "We definitely played well enough to win. After a dominating performance in the first half, I think we may have gotten too comfortable. I think we were the better team today. We possessed well and created some good chances, but Vanderbilt is a good team and they found a way to finish on an opportunity, which we didn't do."

Playing beneath gorgeous blue skies, a rare occurrence lately in Oxford, Ole Miss out-shot Vanderbilt 17-7 and produced five corner kicks to the Commodores' three. After racking up four goals at Kentucky on Thursday, the Rebels produced several quality scoring chances again on Sunday, but missed just wide or high on a number of occasions.

One of the Rebels' best chances came in the 35th minute of the first half when Hannah Weatherly struck a 25-yard shot that cleared the crossbar by an inch.

Taylor Cunningham had several powerful strikes from distance as she led the Rebels with five shots on the afternoon. Weatherly and Mary Bailey Wickham each had three shots.

Vanderbilt made its best chance count in the 72nd minute. After the Commodres popped a high ball into the box, Ole Miss goalkeeper Alley Ronaldi came off her line to punch it away, and was pushed to the ground in the scrum. Stewart came up with the loose ball, which she struck toward Goldin, who flicked it into the open net from about eight yards as Ronaldi had not had time to return back to defend the goal.

Rachel Bachtel earned a shutout in goal for the 'Dores with four saves in 90 minutes. Ronaldi suffered the loss and collected one save in the effort.

"We take this loss and we will move forward," Holeman said. "We still have a lot of soccer ahead of us. We have a big weekend here next weekend with Mississippi State and Alabama and then two tournaments - the SEC Tournament and the NCAAs. We just need to keep working hard and competing like we have all year."

Ole Miss will host in-state rival Mississippi State at 7 p.m. Friday for Senior Night. The Rebels will close the regular season against Alabama next Sunday at 1 p.m. in a match rescheduled from its original Sept. 25 date that was rained out.

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Team Stats

Taylor Cunningham

Hannah Weatherly

Mary Bailey Wickham

Dylan Jordan

The University of Mississippi Athletics