The University of Mississippi Athletics
Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference
9/21/2015 | Soccer
Ole Miss Head Coach Matthew Mott met with members of the media on Monday for his weekly press conference. Coach Mott discussed the Rebels' two road games over the past weekend, while also looking ahead to a pair of home SEC contests this weekend.
Opening statement...
"I want to congratulate the football team on a great win over Alabama, as well as the volleyball team on their performance in a tournament this weekend. We headed to Gainesville last Friday and played a really good team. I told Florida's coach, I have been going to Gainesville since 1995 with four different teams: UCF, Auburn, Texas and now Ole Miss, and I have yet to win down there. It is just a very difficult place to win. I would say on Friday we came as close to winning as I ever have. The 4-1 score was not indicative of the game. We were up 1-0 at halftime on a great goal by Addie Forbus. We battled with them until the 77th minute and they took a 2-1 lead, then got two more at the end. I am really proud of how the team played. It is just a really hard place to go and play. Then we had to get back to Oxford and get ready to go play against our rival Memphis. Those were two really tough games for us on the weekend, traveling to both places. Last night, I thought we had a great match against Memphis. We came out in the first half and played very well. We gave up an early goal on a set piece, which kind of set us back at halftime. I talked to the team at halftime and told them good teams face this kind of adversity during the season and challenged them to use this to define our season. They really came out in the second half and finished the match. We had a great goal by CeCe Kizer. Liza Harbin played the ball to her, then it came off of Kizer's foot when she finished it. Bethany Bunker is playing better and better each match out for us. Bunker set up the last goal for us when she sent it to Kizer who just made a great individual effort to score the goal and win the game in overtime. We talked about it after, but there is no better feeling than beating one of your rivals in overtime on their field. It was great. I really appreciate our administration that went out. Lynnette Johnson was there. Josh McCoy also came up. We had a great Ole Miss crowd up there in Memphis. Memphis is a rival in soccer for us for several reasons. For one, we recruit from Memphis a lot. I believe we have six players on our team from Memphis or the Memphis area. We have another couple from the state of Tennessee. Memphis has always been good at soccer. Honestly, for a number of years they were much better than us, but I think that tide is starting to turn a little. It is certainly a good victory for us. It does not get any easier for us from here. We are going up against Alabama and LSU this weekend. LSU is coming in on Sunday with a 7-1-2 record and are playing great soccer. LSU also has two of the best forwards in the nation. We have Alabama on Friday night who is also playing very well. They beat LSU not too long ago. They have a new coach and a new style in how they are playing. They are off to a great start as well. SEC play is heating up and we need to jump in the middle of it for sure. The rest of our games are SEC games for us. I am happy with the team and the way we are playing. Our backline is doing a very good job. Marnie Merritt made a save for us last night in overtime that kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win. It was big time. It was a one versus one save. Merritt snuffed it out and kept us in the game giving us a chance to win. She has been playing well in conjunction with our backline. Jessica Hiskey and Jennifer Miller really anchor us at midfield. Those two have been driving forces for us all year. We are just going to try and keep it rolling."
On Jennifer Miller...
"Jennifer Miller has been great. We call her the wizard because when she gets the ball she does something special with it. She is able to see things that other players don't see and gets herself in good spots that players don't typically look to get into. She is just so cerebral. She is in pharmacy school now during her fourth year here. She graduated with her undergraduate degree in three years. Jenn came into school with a lot of college credits. She has been a 4.0 student the entire time and is one of our captains. She has been a captain for the last two years. The only thing small about her is her height. She plays so much bigger than she is and is really just great with the ball. Jenn understands how to play and really finds the ball. We have relied on her heavily these last few years and we are looking for a great finish to her senior year."
