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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Central Arkansas (Ex.)
Rebels Blank UCA In Exhibition, 2-0
8/14/2015 | Soccer
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss soccer team started the 2015-16 athletics season with a 2-0 win in an exhibition match against the University of Central Arkansas at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium on Friday evening. Over 600 fans came out to watch the Rebels take on the Bears as this year's campaign kicked off.
The Rebels got off to a hot start and never looked back, scoring in the fourth minute of the game. A sharp shot took the ball across the middle of the box into the right side of the goal at the 41:06 mark of the first half. With the Rebels continuing to dominate early on, another goal soared into the right side of the net seven minutes later to give Ole Miss a 2-0 advantage that carried on throughout the remainder of the match. Rebels nearly scored a third goal of the match at the end of the first half with a 20-yard shot that blanked off of the crossbar.
The Rebels outshot UCA 9-0 in the first half, followed by 15-2 in the second. Ole Miss also earned seven corner kicks against the Bears in the first half alone, tallying 10 corner kicks on the night.
"Sometimes having a great start can be detrimental. When we went in at halftime we talked about coming back out and cranking up the intensity to make sure we did not lose our quick start. I think that they were able to do that," said Ole Miss Head Coach Matthew Mott.
Ole Miss fired a shot on goal early in the second half, but UCA was able to make the first save of the game. On the defensive side, the Rebels continued to control possession of the ball in the second half as the Bears were limited to just two shots.
"Ball control was excellent," noted Coach Mott. "I thought our players in the back did a really good job of keeping the ball. We played it back to UCA, but we kept possession very well."
The Rebels will travel to Ft. Myers, Florida on Tuesday before facing off against Florida Gulf Coast on Friday night at 6p.m. Ole Miss returns to the pitch for the first home match of the season against Boise St. on Sunday, August 23 at 12 p.m.
