The University of Mississippi Athletics
Soccer To Face Washington In NCAA First Round
11/11/2009 | Soccer
OXFORD, Miss. - A sea of Red-clad Rebel fans joined the No. 25 Ole Miss women's soccer team at the Indoor Practice Facility here Monday evening as the field of 64 was announced for the NCAA Championships, and the entire place erupted upon learning that the Rebels would be headed to Portland, Ore., where they will face Washington in the first round Friday.
The program earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2005 and the fourth in program history, all under the direction of head coach Steve Holeman. Ole Miss also made the postseason in 2002 and 2003.
"It's an exciting day for the Ole Miss Rebels," Holeman said. "I'm especially excited for our three seniors. They have a chance to continue their career and play in the Big Dance. What a tremendous crowd we had here. I want to thank all the fans who showed up. We must have had close to 200 people celebrating that special moment with us. Now we have some work to do. It's just step one."
Ole Miss will square off against the Pac-10's Washington Huskies (11-5-4) on Friday at 4 p.m. Pacific time, and the winner of that matchup will move on to face the winner between the No. 2 seeded host University of Portland (18-1) and Denver (17-5-1) in Sunday's second round. Both Ole Miss and Washington earned at-large bids, while Portland was the automatic qualifier from the West Coast Conference and Denver the champion of the Sun Belt.
Holeman's Rebels enter the tournament with a 13-5-2 overall record and finished third overall in the Southeastern Conference with a 7-2-2 league record. The team boasts an offense and defense that rank among the nation's statistical leaders, while piling up the fourth-most wins in a season in school history.
"This team has had a great season," Holeman said. "This bid to the NCAA tournament is well-deserved. We have a lot of big wins against the likes of Florida, Georgia, Aubrn and Memphis, who are all in the tournament."
Among the catalysts for the Rebels' success this season have been the team's three senior captains - defender Mallory Coleman, All-SEC midfielder Danielle Johnson and All-SEC forward Hannah Weatherly. Coleman has helped lead a Rebel back line that has allowed only 13 goals in 20 matches, while Johnson and Weatherly have paced an offensive attack that ranks second in the SEC with 2.15 goals per game.
"This is unreal," said Coleman, a native of Clinton, Miss. "We've anticipated this day for a long time. We've had a great season with some really big wins. We've worked very hard, and as a senior there's no better way to end your season. This is by far the top moment in my career. We've had some good teams, but this team is very deserving."
Ole Miss and Washington will be meeting for the first time. In fact, the Rebels have only face one Pac-10 opponent in program history, suffering a 3-1 loss at Arizona State in 2001.
"We know Washington is a great program, and we're going to have to be at our very best," Holeman said. "It's been a while since Ole Miss Soccer has been out to the West Coast. I think the girls are really excited to travel. We've traveled well this year. We were the only SEC team to go undefeated on the road in league play. A lot of these girls have never been to Oregon. I've never been to Oregon. We know it's a tremendous place to play, and we're looking forward to it."
