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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Soccer Closes Regular Season at No. 2 South Carolina
10/26/2016 | Soccer
Match 19 - at No. 2 South Carolina
Date: Oct. 27, 2016
First Kick: 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT
Location: Columbia, S.C.
Venue: Eugene E. Stone III Stadium
TV: SEC Network
Trey Bender (play-by-play)
Cat Whitehill (analyst)
Live Stats: Series: South Carolina leads 9-5-3
In Columbia: South Carolina leads 5-2-1
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoccer
KICKERS
- Ole Miss heads into the final regular season match at .500 on the year with a 9-9 overall record & 4-6 SEC mark.
- The Rebels will be playing their third road game in seven days Thursday night as the only team in the SEC to finish with three-straight away contests.
- With four wins in league play, the Rebels have 12 points and sit ninth in the conference standings entering Thursday's action against No. 2 South Carolina.
- The Rebels have officially qualified for the SEC Tournament and will play a first round game on Monday, Oct. 31, with the opponent and game time to be determined pending Thursday's results.
- As it stands today, Ole Miss would be the No. 9 seed and face the No. 8 seed Texas A&M in the opening round. With just Thursday night left to play around the league, the 10 teams are locked in to the SEC Tournament with seeding left to play for.
- Ole Miss is coming off two losses on the road last week at Georgia (3-0) and at Vanderbilt (4-1).
- No. 2 South Carolina will be the Rebels' third ranked opponent this season, and the highest ranked opponent for any Ole Miss team since the 2013 campaign (No. 1 Florida State in NCAA Tournament Second Round).
- The Gamecocks have already won the SEC Regular Season Title outright with Thursday's match remaining, and have yet to lose a match at 16-0-1 overall and 10-0 in league play.
- The Rebels are 5-9-3 all-time against the Gamecocks and 2-5-1 in games played in Columbia.
- Of the Rebels' five wins in the series, two have come in the last four meetings (2015 and 2012).
- Ole Miss is in search of its fourth 10-win season under head coach Matt Mott, and fourth in the last five years.
- Bella Fiorenzo netted her third goal of the year in Sunday's loss at Vanderbilt off a free kick in the 29th minute.
SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA
Led by 16th-year head coach Shelley Smith, South Carolina is the only undefeated team remaining in NCAA Division I, having won a program-record 16-straight matches. The Gamecocks won the SEC regular season title after Sunday's win over Tennessee and Auburn's loss to Texas A&M, securing their No. 1 seed for the upcoming SEC Tournament. The Gamecocks have allowed just three goals throughout SEC play, and have scored 20 boasting the nation's 24th-ranked scoring offense at 2.24 goals per game. After tying Oklahoma, 1-1, in the season opener, South Carolina went 6-0 in remaining non-conference action with wins over Tulsa (4-1), North Carolina State (3-0), UCF (2-1), No. 6 Clemson (2-1), Charlotte (3-0) and UNCG (3-0). The Gamecocks have been dominant in league play thus far, pitching shutouts in seven of the 10 league contests. Freshman standout goalkeeper Mikayla Krzeczowski and All-American forward Savannah McCaskill have been the leaders for the team thus far, and are both some of the nation's leaders in statistical categories. Krzeczowski is ninth in goals allowed average (0.416), 21st in save percentage (0.864) and 20th in shutouts (8). McCaskill leads the SEC in goals with 13, and ranks second in the country in game winners (7), 12th in points per game (1.94) and 10th in total points (33). In all, 10 different Gamecocks have found the net led by McCaskill's 13. Chelsea Drennan, Sophie Groff and Paige Bendell -- all SEC Preseason Watch List players -- have combined for 14 goals on the year to help lead the attack. In goal, Krzeczowski has given up just six goals in 14 games played with shutouts in eight of those.
SERIES HISTORY - SOUTH CAROLINA
Ole Miss and South Carolina will be facing off for the 18th time Thursday night, with the Gamecocks leading the all-time series, 9-5-3. Of the Rebels' five wins, two have come in the last four meetings, a 2-0 win over then ranked No. 10 South Carolina last year in Oxford, and a 2-1 victory in Columbia in 2012. In games played in Columbia, the Rebels are 2-5-1 against the Gamecocks with the other victory coming in 2004, a 1-0 decision. Overall, 10 of the matches over the years have resulted in shutouts, while just five have been decided by one goal.
LAST TIME OUT
The Rebels struck first on the road in last Sunday's match at Vanderbilt, but three second-half goals pushed the Commodores over Ole Miss, 4-1. After 28 minutes of scoreless action early on, junior Bella Fiorenzo broke the tie in the 29th when she lofted in a free kick that drifted into the far left corner putting the Rebels in front 1-0. That score held for five minutes before Vandy tied it up in the 34th sending the two teams to halftime locked at 1-1. From there, the Commodores took advantage and scored in the 51st, 68th and 77th minutes to win the match 4-1.
OLE MISS ON NATIONAL TV
The Rebels played three-straight home games on national TV from Sept. 22 - Oct. 9, defeating Mississippi State in the Magnolia Cup (Sept. 22, 3-0), while falling to No. 15 Arkansas in a close 2-1 decision (Sept. 25) and No. 16 Florida, 3-0 (Oct. 9). Ole Miss holds a 10-15-6 record all-time in TV games, including a 2-4-2 mark in matches on SEC Network. The Rebels' Thursday nigth regular-season finale at No. 2 South Carolina has been picked up as the SEC Network wild card game of the week, marking Ole Miss' fourth match on the network this season.
REBELS REACH THE BEACH
Still with Thursday's regular-season finale left to play, Ole Miss has officially clinched a spot in the 2016 SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala. With 12 points in the SEC standings, the Rebels currently sit as the No. 9 team, just one point in front of Alabama, and one behind Texas A&M. While the 10 teams playing in the postseason are locked in, seeding is still left to play for with the Rebels' SEC Tournament first round opponent to be determined following Thursday's action. The two first round games will feature the No. 7/10 seed matchup and No. 8/9 seed matchup, with both first round winners advancing to Wednesday's quarterfinals vs. the No. 1/2 seeds, respectively.
UP NEXT
Ole Miss begins SEC Tournament play next week with a first round game set for Monday, Oct. 31, with the game time and opponent to be determined.
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. Additionally fans can get a behind the scenes look at Ole Miss Athletics on Snapchat under the handle, @WeAreOleMiss.
