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The University of Mississippi Athletics
A Season to Remember: Ole Miss Soccer
12/21/2015 | Soccer
2015 Season in Photos | The Season: Ole Miss Soccer
OXFORD, Miss. - Back in August, Ole Miss soccer was picked to finish 10th in the Southeastern Conference according to a poll of the league's 14 head coaches. From that point forward, the Rebels accepted the challenge of adversity all season long and ultimately proved to the nation there is a new culture of soccer in Oxford.
Still, most head coaches in this day and age put little to no stock in a preseason poll. Head coach Matthew Mott, now with six years under his belt as the leader of the Rebels, believed in his team from the beginning. But even he'll tell you, as he stated to the team in the locker room on Nov. 22, he wouldn't have predicted a season the Rebels put together.
"This was a season that really unveiled the character of this team," Mott said. "It was in no way easy. Our team motto, `Tougher Than the Rest,' was really put to test many times. We had great leadership from our captains Sam (Sanders), Jess (Hiskey) and Jenn (Miller). We had a senior class that was determined to leave a legacy on our program and they did just that."
That day (Nov. 22) at Historic Riggs Field in Clemson, South Carolina marked a first for the program. It was the first time ever the Rebels would play in the NCAA Championship Sweet 16. But, it wasn't a perfect road there.
Rewind to the beginning of the season. The Rebels breezed through the first six games unbeaten for the fifth time overall and second under Mott. Of those six matches, four were shutouts for the Ole Miss defense, as the offense outscored opposing teams 15-3 in the six-game stretch.
Then came SEC play. After starting out 0-2 in the league, the Rebels welcomed Alabama to town. In a contest where Ole Miss had to dig out from a two-goal halftime deficit, the biggest thing on Mott and the players' minds was the health of senior leader Samantha Sanders. The team captain went down in the 23rd minute of the match, and from then on it was "Play for Sam."
"You've got to do it for Sam," Mott said to his team at the halftime break against the Crimson Tide. "You go out there and work as hard as you've ever worked before in your life for 45 minutes. Because you know if that was you lying back there with ice on your knee, she would do it for you."
From that point on, the Rebels did what Mott asked that night, rallying for a 3-2 win in the largest halftime comeback in program history. Then came a thrilling, 2-1 victory at Arkansas on Oct. 9, when Maddie Friedmann sent in the game-winning goal at the 109:59 mark, the last second of the double overtime game.
That thrilling victory in Fayetteville helped spark a five-game win streak for the Rebels. In that span came back-to-back shutouts over top-10 teams in No. 10 South Carolina and No. 10 Auburn, launching Ole Miss to 12th in the national polls, the highest in program history.
To cap the win streak, the Rebels paid a visit to College Station to face the Aggies in their first of three matches on the season against Texas A&M. There, the Rebel offense did what it had done all year long, score quick, within the first five minutes, and often.
Ole Miss became the first team to defeat the Aggies on their home field in 18 matches, and ultimately finished the year adding to the stat of scoring early with seven matches in which the offense struck within the first five minutes of a match.
At that point, the Rebels were 13-3-2 overall and 7-3 in SEC play, ranked 12th in the nation. The team had won eight of its past nine games and guaranteed itself at least the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. Then came Senior Night for seven Rebels in the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt. Again, adversity came.
It was the lone goal from the Commodores in the 84th minute that snapped Ole Miss' five-game win streak and left a bad taste in the mouths of not only the senior class, but the entire team.
"We played right into their hands," Mott said following the loss to Vandy. "We praise them on a good goal, but we're certainly disappointed to finish this way. We have games left though, so we'll have to bounce back and get ready for Orange Beach."
And so the bounce back from adversity continued yet again. The Rebels' opponent for the quarterfinal match in the SEC Tournament, No. 18 Texas A&M.
The squad played tough with the Aggies for the first half in a scoreless draw, but soon after, Texas A&M punched in two goals in the 75th and 81st minutes, sending the Rebels home in a heartbreaking match.
"We've got to come out with a different fire in our belly when we kick off the next time," Mott told the team in the postgame huddle. "We are too good a team to end it that quickly."
Ending quickly wasn't an option, and the Rebels didn't. The Monday following the loss to the Aggies, the team gathered in Oxford to learn their postseason fate during the NCAA Championship Selection Show. It was there that the team had a boost in confidence and emotion when it learned it would host a first round match for just the second time in program history.
The following Friday night, Ole Miss took care of business versus Murray State, snapping the Racers' 11-game win streak to advance on to the Clemson Regional.
The Rebels made the trek to South Carolina the following week and knew they faced yet again another tough challenge. But once again, challenge accepted.
Ole Miss was one of two SEC teams in the regional, as the other side of the bracket featured Texas A&M and perennial powerhouse North Carolina. Two ACC teams in their own territory may have seemed favorable, but the Rebels had other plans.
For 74 minutes, the two sides played to a 0-0 draw. But, at the 74:40 mark, senior Olivia Harrison scored a half volley off a cross from Bethany Bunker to give the visiting Rebels a late 1-0 advantage. From then on, the time seemed to pass slower and slower as Ole Miss neared shutting out the No. 7 team in the nation. However, again adversity ensued as the Tigers somehow weaved their way through traffic and netted the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation.
The Rebels went on to advance past Clemson in penalty kicks, 5-4, setting up an All-SEC showdown in the Sweet 16 against all-too familiar Texas A&M. Anything that happened past that point, regardless of Sunday's outcome, history had already been made. And that's exactly what Mott and other support staff told the players following the heartbreaking PK result to the Aggies.
"PK's are always a tough way to end your season," Mott said. "This team has accomplished so much from the classroom, to the community, to their results on the field. They have set a very high standard for all future Rebels in what was an historic season and one I will cherish the rest of my career. Finally I have to mention my staff. Rob (Thompson), Melissa (Terry), Randy (Dorvin), Summer (Ragsdale), Richard (Beebe) and Corbit (Franks) are all due a lot of credit for what this team accomplished."
That message rung loud and clear especially for the senior class, a group that was responsible for 51 wins over a four-year span, tied for the most of any senior class in Ole Miss soccer history.
The Rebels' 14 wins tied for the third most in school history, while the seven SEC victories stand tied as second-most in school history. Rebel Nation also played a huge role in the 2015 season, breaking the single-season attendance record as 11,087 fans crossed through the gates at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium.
Two CoSIDA Academic All-America selections, three CoSIDA Academic All-District selections, three All-SEC selections, three NSCAA All-South Region honorees, an SEC Freshman of the Year and five SEC Player of the Week honors later, success is an understatement for the 2015 campaign.
But most important of all, the Rebels persevered through the adversity and the culture of Ole Miss Soccer has been changed. And that was a season to remember.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss Soccer on Twitter at @OleMissSoccer, on Facebook at Facebook.com/OleMissSoccer, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/officialolemisssoccer. Also follow head coach Matt Mott on Twitter at @CoachMattMott.
