The University of Mississippi Athletics
Soccer Heads North To Notre Dame Tournament
9/1/2010 | Soccer
Sept. 1, 2010
OXFORD, Miss. - Matthew Mott will take his Ole Miss soccer team on the road for the first time this weekend when the Rebels travel to South Bend, Ind., for the Inn at Saint Mary's Classic, hosted by Notre Dame.
Ole Miss (1-1-1) will face Texas Tech (4-0) at 5 p.m. ET on Friday before a showdown with nationally ranked No. 8 Santa Clara (2-0-1) at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday.
"We're very excited to go and play two quality opponents in a great soccer environment," Mott said. "Notre Dame has a brand new facility and a storied program. I think the atmosphere will be great all weekend with their football team playing. Texas Tech and Santa Clara are two games on our schedule that will really help prepare us for conference play."
Mott's team is looking to bounce back from its first defeat of the season, which it suffered this past Sunday against UAB. The Rebels produced a pair of shutouts in the first two games - a win over Middle Tennessee State and a draw with Western Kentucky.
"We've been working on getting more numbers committed forward into the attack and trying to finish chances," Mott said. "We've worked a lot this week on the quality of our finishing. We're getting the opportunities, but we need to finish off those chances."
Senior Taylor Cunningham and junior Dylan Jordan have scored the team's two goals through three games, while junior Alley Ronaldi owns a 0.93 goals-against average between the pipes.
Texas Tech is off to its best start in school history with shutout wins over TCU, Texas State, Northwestern State and Rice. Goalkeeper Colleen Pitts has 15 saves and has yet to surrender a score, while Jessica Fuston leads the attack with four goals and Taylor Lytle has added three.
Ole Miss is 2-1 all-time against Texas Tech with victories in 1997 and 2000 and a loss in 1996. The teams have a connection in Rebel junior Kendyl Mygatt, who suited up in 10 games for the Red Raiders as a freshman before injuring her knee and transferring after the season.
"Texas Tech is playing really well and is really well coached," said Mott, who coached against the Red Raiders during his four years as an assistant at Texas. "Tom Stone is a great coach and will have his team motivated. They play a very organized system, and they're dangerous up front. They won't give us anything easy, so we'll have to play really well."
Eighth-ranked Santa Clara is one of women's soccer's most storied programs with 10 College Cup Final Four appearances and a national championship in 2001 under long-time head coach Jerry Smith. The Broncos have collected wins over San Jose State and San Diego State so far, as well as a scoreless draw with No. 18 California. Bianca Henninger is one of the top goalkeepers in the country and has pitched two shutouts and allowed just one goal in three games this season.
"Jerry Smith plays a 4-3-3 system that he's played for years, and he's one of the nation's premier coaches of that system," Mott said. "It will be very difficult for us to break down, and we'll have to be very sharp defensively to be prepared for their attack."
