No. 25 Rebels End Season At NCAA Portland Regional

PORTLAND, Ore. - One of the best seasons in school history came to a close Friday as No. 25 Ole Miss (13-6-2) fell 1-0 to the Washington Huskies (12-5-4) in the first round of the NCAA Soccer Championships at Merlo Field at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex.

The Rebels finished the year with the fourth-most wins in a season in program history after finishing third overall in the Southeastern Conference with a 7-2-2 league record. It was also the final game of the fine four-year careers of senior team captains Mallory Coleman, Danielle Johnson and Hannah Weatherly.

"It's always sad when your season comes to an end, but I'm very proud of our team and what they accomplished this season," said Steve Holeman, who directed Ole Miss to its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. "We told them to put everything in perspective. We had a great season, and a large part of that is due to our three senior team captains. I wish we had gotten a better result, but I'm proud of our group, and especially our seniors."

The Rebels, who entered the contest top 20 in the nation in goals-against average, continued their trend of playing very stingy defense by allowing just one score. The offense could not capitalize on its opportunities, though. Washington finished the game with an 11-5 edge in shots and a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks.

"It was great to make our first appearance in the tournament my senior year," said Johnson, the first Rebel to be a four-time All-SEC selection. "It was a great experience coming here, I just wish we could have came out with a win. I thought the first 15 or 20 minutes we were doing really well and keeping possession. I think we had a little trouble in the attacking third throughout the game and mainly in the second half. But we didn't quit. We kept pressuring, just couldn't get that equalizer."

Ole Miss began the first half with a long series of possessions, controlling the run of play for the first half of the period. The Huskies then began to take over the run of play and stayed on the attack for the remainder of the period.

Washington dented the scoreboard first on a goal by All-Pac-10 forward Kate Deines in the 26th minute. The Huskies sent a ball into the middle of the field from the right side, and Deines controlled, took a pair of touches and centered the ball for a strong 25-yard shot to the upper-right corner past a diving Alley Ronaldi.

Following halftime, the teams traded possessions back and forth for the first 15 minutes, while Washington had the upper hand in dangerous scoring chances. Twice the Huskies had point-blank shots on goal, and Ronaldi came up with a pair of dramatic saves.

The Huskies again took control of the run of play before the Rebels made a big push in the last 15 minutes of the contest, attacking time and again, but were unable to put the ball in the back of the net.

Ronaldi took the loss but allowed just one goal and made four saves in 90 minutes. UW goalkeeper Kari Davidson earned a shutout victory and did not need to make a save.

"Washington's a great team," Holeman said. "For the first 15 or 20 minutes I thought we had a great rhythm, but Washington did a great job in the second half of taking us out of our rhythm. They scored a phenomenal goal in the first half to the upper 90, and in the second half they were the better team. Credit to Washington. They limited our chances. In the second half we tried to make some adjustments, and they didn't work.

"I'm so proud of our seniors, though. If it wasn't for the three of them, we wouldn't even be here. We wouldn't be in Portland, and we wouldn't have had a chance to play in the NCAAs against a great team like Washington. They deserve a lot of credit for our season. They've done a tremendous job all year, and I wish we could've extended their season for another game."

Ole Miss was making its fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament and the first since 2005. The Rebels are now 1-4 all-time in postseason matches.

RebelsCalendar

Team Stats

Hannah Weatherly

Danielle Johnson

Abbie Curran

The University of Mississippi Athletics