The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Soccer Hosts No. 23 Michigan, Travels to Louisiana
8/24/2017 | Soccer
Game 3 - No. 23 Michigan
Date: Aug. 25, 2017
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:
Series: Michigan leads 1-0
Last Match: Sept. 2, 2016
Michigan won 2-0
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoccer
Game 4 - at Louisiana-Lafayette
Date: Aug. 27, 2017
First Kick: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Lafayette, La.
Venue: Ragin' Cajuns Soccer Facility
TV: Stream Only
Live Stats: RaginCajuns.com
Series: Ole Miss leads 5-0
Last Match: Aug. 19, 2016
Ole Miss won 3-0
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoccer
PROMOTIONS
Friday, Aug. 25
- First 200 students to present student ID receive an Ole Miss Soccer T-Shirt
- 50 Rebel Rewards points
KICKERS
รขโฌยข Coming off a dominating opening weekend, Ole Miss returns home to host B1G foe Michigan Friday night, before hitting the road Sunday to take on Louisiana-Lafayette.
รขโฌยข No. 23 Michigan makes the return trip to Oxford after the Rebels played in Ann Arbor a season ago, while Ole Miss and the Ragin' Cajuns will be meeting for the sixth time.
รขโฌยข Ole Miss is looking to go 4-0 in its first four games for the first time since 2013.
รขโฌยข Head coach Matt Mott is just one home win away from 50 in his tenure as the Rebel head coach, where Ole Miss has won 68 percent of its home games in the last eight years.
รขโฌยข In last weekend's dominating wins, all but two players who were dressed out saw the field, including seven newcomers who scored their first goal as Rebels.
รขโฌยข Friday's starting 11 featured seven Rebels who had never played for the Red & Blue.
รขโฌยข With a pair of 8-0 shutouts, Ole Miss leads the country in nearly every offensive category averaging 23 points per game (1st), 30.50 shots per game (2nd), and 46 total points (1st).
รขโฌยข The 16 goals scored are already two thirds of the entire 2016 total, while the 14 assists is four shy of last year's.
รขโฌยข Junior CeCe Kizer, who recorded a hat trick 30 minutes into the season opener, added a pair of goals in game two en route to SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors. She was also named the NCAA's Top Performer of the Week.
รขโฌยข With her five-goal performance, Kizer cracked the top-10 in the career goals list with 24.
รขโฌยข Freshman Channing Foster also recorded a hat trick in Sunday's win over Northwestern State.
รขโฌยข Scoring early is the key so far, as the Rebels recorded their first goal at the 3:57 mark in the opener, before scoring first at the 3:12 mark in Sunday's victory.
รยญรยญSCOUTING MICHIGAN
Michigan, ranked No. 23 in this week's United Soccer Coaches' Poll (USC - formerly NSCAA), heads into Friday night 2-0 after wins over Washington and Idaho State. Led by 10th year head coach Greg Ryan, the Wolverines pitched two shutouts in opening weekend with a 2-0 victory in the opener, and a 4-0 defeat in game two. A team that last year went 10-5-5 en route to the NCAA Tournament, Michigan was led by Taylor Timko and Sarah Startigakis through two contests. Timko has three goals and one assist on the year, while Startigakis scored a pair. Defensively, the Wolverines played three goalies with Hillary Beall and Megan Hinz earning the starts.
SERIES HISTORY - MICHIGAN
The Rebels and Wolverines have met only once just last season in Ann Arbor. In that contest, Ole Miss outshot Michigan 19-10, but two first half scores sealed the victory for the home team last September.
SCOUTING LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE
In the first road game for Ole Miss, the Rebels will take on Louisiana-Lafayette, who heads into the weekend 0-2 after losses to Baylor and Lamar. Led by 13-year head coach Scot Wieland, the Ragin' Cajuns dropped a 5-0 decision to the Bears on opening night, before falling 3-1 to the Cardinals two days later. Grace Champagne scored the only goal in Sunday's loss, while the Ragin' Cajuns played three different goalies to start the season, led by Victoria Ryan's 119 minutes in goal thus far.
SERIES HISTORY - LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE
Ole Miss first played Louisiana-Lafayette back in 2012, and have hosted them in Oxford ever since. Now, the Rebels make the return trip, where they carry a 5-0 record in the series all-time. Dating back five years, the Rebels have outscored the club 16-2, including a 3-0 shutout in the 2016 season opener.
OFFENSE EXPLODES IN OPENING WEEKEND
All spring and during the preseason, head coach Matt Mott described his team as fast with the ability to make a lot happen on offense. That showed in opening weekend as the Rebels secured a pair of 8-0 victories over Alabama State and Northwestern State. Ole Miss had a 6-0 lead at halftime in the season opener, and led the Lady Demons 5-0 after the opening period last Sunday. It marked just the second time in school history the Rebels scored at least eight goals in back-to-back contests. Back in 1996, Ole Miss posted a 13-2 victory over Northwestern State, before closing that season two days later with a 10-0 defeat over Middle Tennessee.
TIP OF THE HAT TO KIZER, FOSTER
It had been two years since an Ole Miss player recorded a hat trick. But, that changed this past weekend as both CeCe Kizer and Channing Foster collected hat tricks. In the season opener against Alabama State, Kizer had three goals within 30 minutes, as she picked apart the defense including a pair of scores within 22 seconds of each other. She went on to score two more in the win over Northwestern State. Foster, playing in her first collegiate games, found her stride on Sunday with a hat trick against the Lady Demons. She posted two first-half goals and added a third late in the contest.
KIZER NAMED SEC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK, NCAA TOP PERFORMER
For her efforts in opening weekend, CeCe Kizer picked up SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors, as well as being named NCAA Soccer's Top Performer of the Week. The nation's leader in goals (5) and points (11), Kizer got support from Rebel Nation in a Twitter poll on Tuesday that named her National Player of the Week.
SIX DIFFERENT REBELS FIND THE NET FOR FIRST TIME
With 16 total goals in opening weekend, it brought a lot of opportunities for multiple Rebels to see the field and find the net. Six newcomers did just that, as Channing Foster (3), Grace Johnson (1), Julia Phillps (1), Chanel Thomas (1), Alyssa Frazier (1), and Emily Holten scored their first career goals. Mary Kate Smith, a JUCO transfer who previously played at Southern Miss, carded her first career goal as a Rebel as well.
BRICK BY BRICK
Each season, the senior class is tasked with creating a new team motto for the fall. This year's class of Liza Harbin, Courtney Carroll, Danielle Gray and Bella Fiorenzo chose Brick by Brick, or #B3, for the program. The idea stemmed from a couple of different reasons, one being the renovation of the Gillom Center, which houses the locker room, team room, training room, and weight facility. The Ole Miss Soccer Stadium also saw a new playing surface laid down, further reiterating the Brick by Brick mantra. It also was created with the mindset of a positive spring after a somewhat disappointing season last fall, with the hopes of the foundation and the future of the program only looking up.
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.
