The University of Mississippi Athletics
Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference
9/7/2015 | Soccer
Ole Miss head coach Matthew Mott met with members of the media on Monday as part of his weekly press conference. Coach Mott discussed his team's start to the season, impact while also looking ahead to this weekend's home games versus Kentucky and Louisville.
Opening statementรขโฌยฆ
"I think I also speak for Coach McRoberts when I say that we appreciate you coming each Monday. It is great for our teams to have you here and be able to speak with you. We are off to a 4-0-2 start. We have had the last five games at home. We are playing well at home. We have had some great performances, especially from one of our freshmen, CeCe Kizer. Kizer is leading the SEC in goals now, with six total in six games. She is on a great pace. On Friday night against UCF, she scored in the 89th minute to get us tied, when we were down 2-1 before the goal. Then last night, against Little Rock, she scored the game-winner with about four minutes to go in the first overtime. She is doing really well. I am happy with the team as a whole. We have a redshirt-freshman in the goal in Marnie Merritt. She has played very well. We have had four shutouts so far in the season. We have only given up three goals on the season. The three goals we have given up have all been off set plays, one of those being a penalty kick goal. Defensively we are playing really well. This year in midfield we are led by two seniors, Jessica Hiskey and Jennifer Miller. They have been excellent for us. They are really setting the tone in how we play. I am very happy with the performance from those two. We have two juniors starting up top, Addie Forbus and Gretchen Harknett, who are also playing very well for us. Our backline has Samantha Sanders back for us as a senior captain, doing a great job. Liza Harbin is also playing back there for us. Danielle Gray is getting a start at outside back for us when we play with three on the backline. She is doing a really good job for us. We open conference play this weekend as we take on Kentucky Friday night at home. This will be a great night. They are ranked in the top-20 and playing very well. They are a very difficult team, and they have a great front three. They have a few players who are very dynamic and dangerous, so we will have to be ready for them. We continue with the Kentucky theme and play Louisville at home on Sunday at noon. Louisville is a team that beat us last year up there 1-0. They are very well coached and a very good team. We will have to be ready for them on Sunday."
On what makes Kizer so goodรขโฌยฆ
"I think part of it is that she is in the right place at the right time. CeCe Kizer is putting herself in good spots and I think good goal scorers have a knack to do that. If you watch her movements when you go back and look at film, she just moves into really good spots. She gets herself away from defenders so that she is open. When she gets the chances she is putting them on frame. Her ratio of shots and shots on frame are really good. So, even if she doesn't score, she makes the goalkeepers save it. Kizer has been really clutch so far and we are hoping it continues. "
On Marnie Merritt starting as a redshirt-freshman in goalรขโฌยฆ
"Marnie Merritt has been really composed. She started out in a really tough game against FGCU. They put the fans right behind the goals and they were going crazy. It was really loud and vuvuzelas were out. She held herself together in a great way during that game. From that point she has just gotten better and better. She is very composed and very confident. She has been excellent. She plays very clean and is holding everything. Merritt looks like a veteran. Training last year with goalkeeper coach Rob Thompson has really prepared her, and she is doing a great job so far."
