The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Soccer Set to Open 2016 Campaign
8/18/2016 | Soccer
Game 1 - Louisiana Lafayette
Date: Aug. 19, 2016
First Kick: 6 p.m.
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Ole Miss Soccer Stadium (1,500)
TV: SEC Network +
Richard Cross (play-by-play)
Ian Banner (analyst)
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com
Series: Ole Miss leads, 4-0
Last Match: Aug. 28, 2015
Ole Miss won, 3-1
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoccer
Game 2 - Northwestern State
Date: Aug. 21, 2016
First Kick: 7 p.m.
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Ole Miss Soccer Stadium (1,500)
TV: SEC Network +
Richard Cross (play-by-play)
Ian Banner (analyst)
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com
Series: Ole Miss leads, 3-0
Last Match: Aug. 30, 2013
Ole Miss won, 5-0
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoccer
Promotions
- First 150 fans will receive Ole Miss Soccer ThunderStix
- Melissa Capocaccia poster night
- Debut of new video board at Ole Miss Soccer Stadium
Kickers
- Ole Miss enters its 22nd season of competition this weekend and its seventh under head coach Matt Mott.
- The Rebels will kick-off a four-game homestand to start the year, which features seven of the first eight at home.
- Ole Miss heads into the weekend having never lost to either Louisiana-Lafayette or Northwestern State.
- The Rebels enter the 2016 season ranked No. 22 in the NSCAA Preseason Top-25, the first time ever the program has appeared in the NSCAA preseason rankings.
- The Rebels are 13-5-3 all-time in season openers, and have tied in each of the openers in the last two years.
- 84 percent (36-of-43 goals) of the Rebels' goal production from last season returns in 2016.
- Despite a third-place finish in the SEC regular season last year, the league head coaches voted Ole Miss eighth in the SEC Preseason Poll, the furthest drop of any team in the league.
- Furthermore, despite a 16th-place finish in the NSCAA Final Top-25 rankings, the Rebels fell six spots to 22nd, also the biggest fall of any team in the country.
- Ole Miss finished as one of the top 16 teams last year, advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time ever.
- 18 Rebels who saw time on the field last year return for the 2016 campaign, including nine who started most, if not all matches.
- The Rebels also welcome a newcomer class of seven highlighted by two Gatorade HS Players of the Year.
- CeCe Kizer and Addie Forbus enter the season as the nation's fifth-highest returning scoring duo (25 combined goals), only behind players from Florida, Howard, Boston College and Princeton.
- The Rebels return a young star in goal, Marnie Merritt, who, after just one season of play, already ranks in the top-10 career categories in saves (93), goals allowed average (1.09) and shutouts (7).
Scouting Louisiana
The Ragin' Cajuns enter their 12th season with Scot Wieland as head coach. The squad went 8-10-2 a season ago with a 2-6-1 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. Louisiana has three of its key stat leaders returning in Annika Schmidt, Ashleigh Cade and Kimberly Grasso, who combined for 16 goals and five assists. Cosette Morche started in 15 matches in goal in 2015 and made 100 saves with a 1.56 goals allowed average. As a team the Ragin' Cajuns return 11 letterwinners and seven starters, while welcoming nine newcomers to the club. Louisiana and Ole Miss met a season ago with the Rebels taking the early season match, 3-1, in Oxford.
Scouting Northwestern State
The Lady Demons, led by 5th year head coach George Van Linder, are coming off a 5-10-4 season in 2015, which included a 2-6-3 mark in Southland Conference play. The squad returns 12 goals in returners Esdeina Gonzalez, (six goals, two assists), Camila Ardila (two goals, two assists) and Brittany Caserma (four goals, one assist). The Lady Demons' goalkeeper, Alex Latham, is also back after recording 73 saves and a 1.35 goals allowed average a season ago. The club faced two SEC opponents in 2015, falling to Texas A&M, 3-0, while tying LSU, 1-1, in two overtime periods.
Series History - Louisiana
The Rebels and Ragin' Cajuns have four previous meetings heading into Friday's matchup, with Ole Miss taking all four contests, all of which were played in Oxford. The first meeting came back in the 2012 season when the Rebels took a 1-0 decision in the fourth game of the year. A year later, the Rebels kicked off the 2013 season with a 4-0 shutout, before taking down the visiting Ragin' Cajuns, 5-1, a year later in 2014. Last season Ole Miss hosted the club in the third game of the year and won, 3-1, pushing the combined scoring advantage to 13-2 in the all-time series.
Series History - Northwestern State
In just three meetings with the Lady Demons of Northwestern State, Ole Miss has scored 25 goals and allowed just two, thanks to a match in 1996 that still lives as one of the most record-breaking performances of any Rebel team. That meeting came on Nov. 1, 1996, when Ole Miss won a 13-2 matchup thanks to a 15-point effort from Sarah Comeaux. In that matchup she scored seven goals, most of any player in the SEC ever in a single game. The next meeting, which took place Aug. 27, 2004, kicked off that year and also featured a high-scoring affair with a 7-0 Rebel victory. The most recent contest came in 2013 when Ole Miss won, 5-0, on Aug. 30 in Oxford.
Forbus, Merritt, Kizer Represent Ole Miss on SEC Preseason Watch List
The SEC Preseason Watch list, which replaces the former Preseason All-SEC Team, features three Rebels in sophomore CeCe Kizer, senior Addie Forbus and redshirt sophomore Marnie Merritt. Kizer returns as the defending SEC Freshman of the Year, while Forbus was an All-SEC selection a year ago. Merritt is back for just her second season on the pitch and already ranks in the top-10 in career goals allowed average (1.09), career saves (93) and career shutouts (seven).
Rebels Make History to Open 2016 Season
For the first time in the 21-year history of the program, Ole Miss will enter the season as a preseason top-25 team, according to the official national poll released by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. The Rebels have appeared in one preseason poll before in recent years, the Soccer Buzz Preseason Top-25 (2006), but never in the NSCAA preseason rankings. Ole Miss capped last season at No. 16 in the final NSCAA poll, the highest finish in school history, but fell the most of any team from last year to this preseason by six spots to No. 22.
Kizer, Forbus Back as NCAA's Fourth-Highest Returning Scoring Duo
CeCe Kizer scored the most goals of any freshman in America last season, and is back for her sophomore campaign in 2016. Alongside her, senior Addie Forbus pitched in with 11, making the duo one of the highest scoring in the country in 2015 with 25 combined goals. Entering this season, the two return tied as the nation's fourth-highest returning duo, behind only players from Boston College, Howard and Princeton.
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.
