The University of Mississippi Athletics
Soccer Hosts Lady Toppers, Blazers This Weekend
8/26/2010 | Soccer
Aug. 26, 2010
OXFORD, Miss. - Coming off a season-opening win over Middle Tennessee, Ole Miss continues its home stand with a Friday match against Western Kentucky and a Sunday tilt with UAB at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium.
Friday's match starts at 7 p.m., and fans will have a chance to win tickets to the Sept. 4 football season opener vs. Jacksonville State. Sunday's game with the Blazers will kick off at 1 p.m.
First-year coach Matthew Mott led the Rebels to a 1-0 victory in his first game at the helm this past Friday. Dylan Jordan headed in a perfect cross from Kelsey Breathitt, while the Rebel defense, led by goalkeeper Alley Ronaldi's four saves, pitched a shutout.
"It was good to get that first game out of the way and get a win," Mott said. "The girls are excited to play again this weekend. We're getting better every day. The midfielders are getting more comfortable in our system, and the defense is getting more and more comfortable, as well. Up top, we have a freshman in Erin Emerson and a junior in Dylan Jordan, and they are figuring each other out."
Western Kentucky returns five starters and 14 letterwinners from a 2009 squad that went 14-4-2 and finished second in the Sun Belt Conference. Among those returning starters is two-time All-Sun Belt goalkeeper Libby Stout. The Lady Toppers dropped their season opener at Tennessee 3-0 on Friday.
Ole Miss and Western Kentucky have met just one before, with WKU claiming a 2-1 double-overtime victory in Bowling Green in the 2008 season opener.
"Western Kentucky is a good team that is well-coached and organized," Mott said. "We will have to come out ready to play in order to get a favorable result on Friday."
Ole Miss will face a UAB squad that returns eight starters and 15 letterwinners from last year's 11-7-3 team. The Blazers have made a pair of NCAA Tournament trips in recent years, with the last one coming in 2006. They are beginning the 2010 season with four straight games against SEC teams and lost to Vanderbilt, 5-1, and Alabama, 1-0, on the opening weekend. They will visit Mississippi State on Friday before making the trip to Oxford.
The all-time series between Ole Miss and UAB is even at 2-2. The Rebels dropped last year's season opener to the Blazers in Birmingham by a score of 1-0.
"UAB beat us last time, so our girls will be motivated," Mott said. "They are a good attacking team with dangerous forwards. They've done well in Conference USA over the years, so we know it will be a difficult matchup and we will need to be at our best."
