The University of Mississippi Athletics
Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference
9/28/2015 | Soccer
Ole Miss Head Coach Matthew Mott met with members of the media on Monday for his weekly press conference. Coach Mott looked back on a weekend in which the Rebels collected two SEC wins, and he also previewed a matchup at Missouri Friday night.
Opening Statement...
"Certainly a good weekend for us to get six points and to get us back to .500 in the SEC. That win Friday night was huge. It was a game of two halves. In the first half, I thought we were playing well. We gave up a goal and had an injury to Sam Sanders, our senior captain center back, a huge player for us. I think she got hurt on the goal. She went down and everyone stopped and they got the goal. We had to make some adjustments in the lineup. Jessica Hiskey went back, and she did a good job for us. We gave up a penalty to go down 2-0 at halftime. We challenged our team at the half. I told them we need to play as hard as we can because we knew Sam Sanders was down on the sideline, and we know that Sam would do it for us if anyone else was down. So, they really rallied in the second half. We scored a goal from Addie Forbus in the first fifteen seconds of the half, so that really set the tone for the second half. We found the second one from Liza Harbin's first goal, a great goal from a corner. And then the shot from CeCe Kizer on a combination play from Addie and Gretchen (Harknett). We had to get the win there. On Sunday, we wanted to win there. Our last six years, we hadn't won both Friday and Sunday of SEC play at home, so it was a validation weekend for us and where we are going to go. We were playing one of the top scoring teams in LSU with two great forwards in (Jorian) Baucom and (Summer) Clarke, and I think we put in a great game plan to be able to slow them down and shut them down. We scored a great goal from Gretchen to get us going in the first half and another one from Addie in the second half. Our game last night was one of the better games we have played since I have been here. From the time the whistle blew to the time the game ended, it was a complete performance. We have won four out of our last five and three in-a-row. We talked about trying to get into a role into this portion of SEC play. The job doesn't get any easier now as we head to Missouri, who is very tough at home and very well coached. They have some good athletes that will make it very difficult for us. But I'm looking forward to getting out with this team and competing on Friday night."
On Bethany Bunkerรขโฌยฆ
"Bethany Bunker is the most unsung hero maybe in the history of Ole Miss Soccer. She is extremely dangerous. Other teams game plan for her. She doesn't necessarily always have the stats, but other teams have to deal with her pace and her ability out wide. She's a huge weapon for us. Talking to the LSU coach last night, he was saying that they didn't have an answer for Bethany out wide, and that's true for most teams. When she gets faced up and is running right at you, she is so fast. For six years, I haven't seen anybody stay with her. When she gets out in the flanks, she is just dangerous with her speed. She is tenacious. She took the injury early in the season, and now she's back to full strength, and that's been helping us. She's a senior; she's been playing for a long time for us, and is an important part of our success."
