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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference
10/26/2015 | Soccer
Ole Miss Head Coach Matthew Mott met with members of the media on Monday as part of his weekly press conference. Coach Mott discussed the Rebels' two road victories over Tennessee and No. 19 Texas A&m and the team's success this season. Coach Mott also looks ahead to the upcoming matchup versus Vanderbilt (7 p.m. CT, SEC Network+) as well as the postseason.
Opening Statement
"Hey guys thanks for coming. It was nice to be at the back end of beating Texas A&M last night after the football team took care of them on Saturday. That is always exciting. We were able to do that with Alabama last year too. That is certainly fun for us and fun for our team. It is very excited where we are sitting in the SEC right now. We're third by ourselves and we can't finish any lower than third. We still have a chance at the title if things go our way. We certainly need to take care of Vanderbilt first, which will be a very difficult game for us on Thursday night and is also our senior night. But to recap this weekend briefly, we had a very good performance against Tennessee. They are a team that has a beaten us 12 straight times. We played very well, a very professional performance. We scored two good goals and really shut them down. I'm really happy with the way our defense is playing. Jessica Hiskey has been fantastic back there for us. Maddie Friedmann, Liza Harbin and Bethany Bunker have been attacking back there. Our goalkeeper Marnie Merritt is doing great as well. Those guys in the back have certainly done a great job for us all season long. They're three of the toughest defenders in the league, so I am happy with them and their play. The forwards always get all of the credit for scoring the goals but our backline has really done a fantastic job over this last stretch. It was a good win against Tennessee. Then we had a bumpy ride into Texas A&M with all the weather. It poured the entire time we were there. I worried about the field but when we got there the field was perfect. There was a 20 MPH wind blowing straight down the field throughout the game. We scored two good goals in the first half and gave up one so it was 2-1 going into halftime. We talked to the team in the locker room, and they were energized and excited and thought we played well. We came out in the second half and went down a goal; they scored two quick ones. Then, CeCe Kizer scored two great goals. Her goals were scored on a three-man combination where there were three different people involved on the goals. Addie Forbus, Gretchen Harknett, and Olivia Harrison were setting her up. Just a big time performance from us offensively. I thought defensively we were good. After we went ahead, they really didn't get another chance. It was a really great weekend for us. I am happy for the team and happy with Kizer being named SEC Freshman of the Week. She is on fire and that's exciting to watch. Now we look to Thursday. Thursday is our senior night here and we would just really love for our Rebel Nation to come out and support us. We were real close to setting our attendance record on Friday (vs. Auburn). We only need about 600 or something like that to break our season attendance record, so we can surpass that. This senior class has been really special to changing the culture of our program. We want to send them out the right way. Hopefully we can get another home game in the NCAAs, but this is certainly our last regular season home game. These seniors have been fantastic. We just encourage everyone to come out and support them. We will be playing a Vanderbilt team that is fighting for their lives; they want to get to Orange Beach for the SEC Tournament. They have one of the most dangerous forwards in the league in Simone Charley. We have to worry about her. They are a good team and we need to be prepared for the game after all of the senior night activities."
On postseason outlook...
"For once at this time of the year, we feel comfortable. Our RPI right now is No. 15. It just came out this morning. That is great. We can win another game in the tournament, and we will have a good chance at being a seeded team. In soccer, they seed the top 16 teams. That would be really great for us to be seeded because that protects us against the other 15 teams and gives us a good chance of hosting. We are looking really good there. We are officially no lower than third in the league. With the help of a few teams we could possibly move into second, or even first. We are one point out of first right now."
On anticipating the year's success...
"We have been building for this year, we really have. We thought there was a chance if we could keep the main guys healthy and get the depth off of the bench that we wanted. We thought we would be pretty good. I didn't know how good. We obviously didn't know what the league would look like and those kinds of things. We have a freshman with 14 goals, which is pretty special, and junior that has 11. The core of our team is the senior group. However, Addie Forbus, CeCe Kizer and Gretchen Harknett, who are all underclassmen, have done really well. We are led by our seniors."
