Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference

Oct. 23, 2017

Opening Statement...
"It was a crazy week for us. It started with Auburn last Thursday in a really wild game. We went up 1-0 early in the match with a great goal from CeCe Kizer, then they equalized in the first half. In the second half we got up 2-1 on a penalty kick that Gabby Little drew and CeCe finished. We gave up an equalizer with about 20 minutes to go on a free kick that they hit really well and then, unfortunately, we took a red card from Ella Johnson, which really put the game on its head a little bit. We were down a man with about 17 minutes left to go in regulation and had to play the rest of regulation and both overtime periods down a player. I am really proud of the way the team battled to keep that 2-2 draw. We really had a couple chances to win it but its always going to be difficult when you're down a a player. Marnie Merritt was just excellent in goal for us, she actually saved two goals that most goalkeepers could not. Alabama is ahead of us right now in the RPI, our RPI right now is 25. That's a really good spot to make an NCAA at-large selection but we have a big game against Alabama who is 21 in the RPI so it should be a good RPI game. Alabama is playing great, they have won three straight. Alabama is a really good team and one we have to be prepared for. I like where our team is, they are playing really well, I'm excited to be back home for senior night. We have four fantastic seniors in Bella Fiorenzo, our captain, Courtney Carroll, Danielle Gray, and Liza Harbin. They have meant a whole lot to this program and we need to send them out the right way."

On His Opinion on Ties...
"There are good ties and there are bad ties. It was a good tie for us on Thursday night, playing down a man for 47 minutes. That's a good tie. Last night, pouring rain, at your rival, if you get a point you're in the postseason and you keep the Magnolia Cup, that's a good tie. A bad tie is probably when your playing at home as a ranked team and your opponent comes in and ties you. So, there are good ties and bad ties. In soccer, you can play forever and no one scores so that's why they limit it to two overtime periods. If you look all over the world nobody even plays overtime. College is one of the few places where they play overtime. Elsewhere, they play 90 minutes and if it's tied at the end it's tied. We do get a sudden-death period and when we get into the SEC tournament, where there has to be a winner, we have penalty kicks if it's tied up. There are good ties and bad ties but I'm an advocate of getting rid of overtime. I would be fine with just playing 90 minutes, that would be my choice. Especially when you have to play two games in a weekend. We played 220 minutes this weekend, that's a lot of minutes. If you saw the team today they are exhausted and their legs are really sore and tired and we have a huge game on Thursday. Our top girls will run over ten miles and it's not ten miles like a nice jog in the park. Its ten miles getting run over, running, heading, sprinting, fighting, kicking so it's a hard ten miles for sure."

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.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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