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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Soccer Trio Collects All-SEC Honors
11/1/2015 | Soccer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - After surprising the Southeastern Conference and finishing third at the end of the regular season, the Ole Miss soccer team landed three Rebels on All-SEC lists when the conference announced its postseason awards Sunday afternoon. Freshman CeCe Kizer, Ole Miss' leading scorer, headlined the trio of Rebels on the list as SEC Freshman of the Year and earning First Team All-SEC honors.
Alongside Kizer, junior Addie Forbus was awarded All-SEC First Team accolades as well. Rounding out the recognized Rebels, senior defender Jessica Hiskey claimed a spot on the All-SEC Second Team. The three Rebels led Ole Miss to a 13-4-2 (7-4-0 SEC) record during the regular season, including the No. 12 spot in the NSCAA poll for the highest ranking in school history.
As the nation's leading freshman scorer with 14 goals, Kizer became the third Rebel to be named SEC Freshman of the Year and the first since Jennifer Hance in 2005. Overall, her 14 goals rank third in the SEC and 12th in the nation. The Overland Park, Kansas native has found the back of the net for an SEC-leading seven game-winning goals, which sits third nationally. In school history, Kizer has scored the eighth-most goals in a single season, including the third-most by a freshman.
Earning SEC honors is nothing new for the young midfielder; she was the only freshman in the conference to be named SEC Freshman of the Week more than once this season. Kizer was the SEC Freshman of the Week for the periods ending Oct. 26 and Sept. 8.
Forbus collected First Team All-SEC honors for the first time in her career. The Amory, Mississippi native has scored as many goals in 2015 as she did in her first two seasons combined, finding the back of the net 11 times. Forbus has tallied seven of her 11 goals in SEC games this season, including a superb header to help the Rebels knock off then-No. 10 Auburn. With 22 career goals, Forbus is just two goals away from cracking the career top-10 in program history.
Along with her goals, Fobus forward has added six assists for a total of 28 points. Doing it all on the offensive side of the pitch, the junior forward joins South Carolina's Savannah McCaskill as the only two players to rank in the top 10 in all three scoring categories (goals, assists, points).
The dynamic duo of the Ole Miss offensive attack, Kizer and Forbus, is the third-highest scoring combo in the nation, tallying 25 of the Rebels' 40 goals. The pair of Rebels is also the only two teammates to rank in the SEC's top-5 for both points and goals. Nationally, they find themselves in the top-25 in points with Kizer 21st (29 points) and Forbus closely behind in 23rd (28 points).
A senior who has helped lead Ole Miss to 50 victories over the past four seasons, Hiskey earns All-SEC accolades for the first time in her storied career. She is the first Ole Miss defender to be named All-SEC since Alix Hildal and Meredith Snow were honored during the 2011 season.
This season, Hiskey has started all 19 games as a team captain, increasing her consecutive starts streak to 51 matches. She began the season as a midfielder but has transitioned to becoming a difference maker in the Ole Miss backline. Since her move to starting defender, the Rebels have won six of their last eight games, allowing only six goals during that stretch and posting four shutouts. Hiskey has also provided assistance on the offensive side of the pitch, adding two goals and one assist this season.
The All-SEC nod adds to Hiskey's award collection over the past few weeks. She was named SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week, Oct. 19, after leading a backline to a 2-0 shutout over a top-10 Auburn team. The Franklin, Tennessee native also joined Forbus and Maddie Friedmann as a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree on Thursday, recognized for success in the classroom.
Other individual awards announced Sunday afternoon were SEC Coach of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Missouri's Bryan Blitz was chosen by his peers as the SEC Coach of the Year. The SEC's leading scorer, Savannah Jordan of Florida, was named SEC Offensive Player of the Year, while teammate Christian Westphal was chosen as the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Sharing SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors were Alabama's Abby Lutzenkirchen and Auburn's Casie Ramsier.
This upcoming week, Ole Miss will begin postseason play at the SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Alabama. As the No. 3 seed, the Rebels will face No. 6 seed Texas A&M Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 4, at 2:30 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast on SEC Network.
