The University of Mississippi Athletics
Soccer Hosts SEC Exhibition Games This Weekend
2/26/2010 | Soccer
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss soccer team welcomes a pair of Southeastern Conference foes to Oxford this weekend for the Rebels' first home exhibition games of the spring season.
Ole Miss will square off against Vanderbilt at 10 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a matchup with Alabama at 5 p.m.
The Rebels will be looking to avenge a 1-0 loss to the Commodores in their 2009 regular season meeting, while Ole Miss claimed a 1-0 victory over Alabama in their last meeting.
Coming off a 13-6-2 campaign and NCAA Tournament berth in 2009, Steve Holeman's team earned a pair of quality results in its opening weekend of spring exhibition play last weekend in Little Rock, Ark. The Rebels tied defending Big 12 Tournament Champion Oklahoma State 1-1 before shutting out Oklahoma in a 0-0 tie.
Sophomore Courtney Messina headed in a first-half goal off junior Taylor Cunningham's corner kick against the Cowgirls, and sophomore keeper Alley Ronaldi surrendered just one goal in the two contests.
"We had a solid start to our spring season," Holeman said. "After losing our three seniors from the fall, our lineup is relatively young. Defensively, we played really well, and we will continue to use the spring to work on goal-scoring and attacking on offense. We are excited to be back home and hosting Vanderbilt and Alabama."
Ole Miss is competing with mostly freshmen and sophomores after the graduation of senior captains and full-time starters Mallory Coleman, Danielle Johnson and Hannah Weatherly. Johnson and Weatherly both earned All-SEC honors in 2009. Johnson, who became the first Rebel to receive All-SEC honors in all four years, was selected by the New Jersey Sky Blue FC in the Women's Professional Soccer Draft last month. Ole Miss is also competing this spring without the services of sophomore midfield starter Dylan Jordan, who is recovering from shoulder surgery.
