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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Missouri
Soccer Heads to CoMo as SEC Play Roles On
10/2/2018 | Soccer
Rebels Seeking First Win Over Tigers During Matt Mott Era
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OLE MISS (8-4-1) vs. MISSOURI (4-6-2) Thursday, Oct. 4 • 6:30 p.m. • Columbia, Mo. Audrey J. Walton Soccer Stadium (2,500)  |
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| Watch • Live Stats • Ole Miss Match Notes • Missouri Match Notes | ||||||||
KICKERS
• Ole Miss enters the week with an 8-4-1 overall record, coming off of a 1-1 draw with No. 5 Texas A&M Friday night in Oxford. At 2-1-1 in SEC play, the Rebels are tied for fifth in the league table with seven points.
• The seven points through four matches is the best start to conference play for Ole Miss since 2009.
• Marnie Merritt made a season-high nine saves against the Aggies, one shy of her career-high set last season at Texas A&M. Making an incredible diving save with less than 10 seconds left in the match, Merritt became the first keeper all season to hold the powerful A&M offense to a single goal.
• Following her stellar performance in goal, Merritt was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week. It was the second time in the senior's vaunted career that she has received the honor and the first since her sophomore season in 2016.
• CeCe Kizer currently ranks second in the nation in goals (11) and points (26), only behind Raimee Sherle of Boise State.
• Ole Miss continues to climb in the NCAA RPI report. Following the draw against Texas A&M, the Rebel climbed to No. 52 in this week's report. Since the initial report came out two weeks ago, Ole Miss has moved up 28 spots from No. 80.
• This week's opponents, Missouri and Arkansas, are ranked No. 96 and No. 32, respectively, in the RPI report.
• Missouri owns a slim 3-2-1 lead in the all-time series against Ole Miss. After winning the first two matchups in 2002 and 2003, the Rebels have not defeated the Tigers since Mizzou joined the SEC during the 2012-13 athletic season, going 0-3-1.
• Missouri has struggled to find its offensive flow in 2018, ranking last in the SEC with eight goals and two assists. The Tigers have been shut out seven times this season, while also managing to keep a clean sheet of their own four times.
• Sarah Luebbert paces the Tigers with three goals on the year, making the junior the lone Missouri player to score multiple times.
SCOUTING MISSOURI
Coming off of back-to-back losses in league play to Vanderbilt and Arkansas, Missouri holds a 4-6-2 overall record coming into Thursday's tilt, including 1-2-1 in SEC play. While the Tigers have won just one of six road matches this season, Missouri has seen improved efforts at home, going 3-3-2 in front of its home crowd. The Tigers have had a hard time getting the offense going, ranking last in the SEC in goals per game at 0.67, scoring eight times in 12 matches. Missouri has been shut out seven times this season, including a four-match streak from August 25 to September 7. The Tigers are tied for 10th in the league in goals allowed, surrendering 1.18 per game, despite sitting second in the SEC in saves with 4.67 per game. Missouri has proven to be physical defensively, racking up a league-high 12.08 fouls per game.
The Tigers are led in scoring by junior forward Sarah Luebbert with three goals, making her the only Missouri player with multiple goals this season. Behind Luebbert, four Tigers are tied with one goal in Cassidy Nurnberger, Bethany Coons, Skye Kingsley and Madison Lewis. Missouri has recorded just two assists on the year, collected by freshmen forwards Blythe Beldner and Julissa Cisneros.
In goal, senior Kelsey Dossey has seen the vast majority of the action, making 11 starts and playing a total of 1017:06. The Avon, Indiana native has surrendered 13 goals in her 11 matches, posting a 1.37 goals against average. Dossey has made a total of 47 saves, good for a .783 save percentage, while registering three shutouts. Redshirt-sophomore Mercedes Sapp has appeared in two matches, making one start. In her time, Sapp has allowed two goals for a 1.37 GAA, making seven saves and posting a 0.778 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY - MISSOURI
The Tigers lead the all-time series against Ole Miss by a very slim 3-2-1 margin, though the Rebels have never defeated Missouri during the Matt Mott era. The Rebels got off to a good start to the series, winning the first two meetings by 2-1 scores in overtime in 2002 and 2003 but have since been unable to crack the code against the tigers. Ole Miss is 0-3-1 in the last four meetings, including losses in the last two matchups.
LAST MEETING - MISSOURI (9/9/16)
The last time Ole Miss and Missouri met up, it was a night to forget for the Rebels at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium. The Rebels allowed five goals on the night, tied for the most surrendered at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium since 1996.
While the score was lopsided, the stats from the match were actually fairly even. The Tigers registered an 18-12 advantage in shots, while Ole Miss won five corners to Missouri's four.
Jessica Johnson got the Tigers on the board first, finishing in front of goal in the 23rd-minute. Missouri would strike again before the half as Savannah Trujillo found the back of the net in the 38th-minute.
The Tigers struck again coming right out of the break, with Sarah Luebbert scoring in the 48th-minute. Missouri scored its final two goals in quick succession, with Amanda Shaw and Allie Hess finishing in the 61st and 63rd minutes to close out the match.
MERRITT TABBED SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Facing one of the nation's top offenses in Texas A&M, Marnie Merritt was nearly unbeatable in goal for the Rebels, helping Ole Miss secure a crucial point with a 1-1 draw against the fifth-ranked Aggies. For her efforts, Merritt was selected as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week, the second such honor of her career and first since 2016.
Despite having to play an additional 20 minutes of overtime, the senior keeper became the first goalie all season to hold the Aggies to a single goal. Merritt made a season-high nine saves against the Aggies, one shy of her career-best mark of 10 stops made last season at Texas A&M. The Huntersville, North Carolina native came up biggest when it mattered most, making three saves in the second overtime period, including an incredible diving stop to deny the game-winner with three seconds to go.
RECORD WATCH: MARNIE MERRITT
CeCe Kizer isn't the only Rebel with a chance to make some history in 2018. Having been stationed between the posts for just about every second of Ole Miss' schedule over the past four seasons, fifth-year senior Marnie Merritt is closing in on a pair of career records herself. Merritt has registered 21 clean sheets in her Rebel career, two shy of breaking the school record for shutouts in a career. The Huntersville, North Carolina product is also zeroing in on the all-time record for wins in a career, needing just four more to surpass Kelly McCormick for the Ole Miss record.
REBELS MAKE A MOVE IN THE RPI REPORT
Coming in at No. 80 in the first NCAA RPI report of the season, continues to make its way up the rankings as conference play rolls on. After moving up 15 spots to No. 65 last week, the Rebels climbed an additional 13 places following the draw against Texas A&M, coming in at No. 52. This week's opponents, Missouri and Arkansas, are slotted 96th and 32nd, respectively.
OLE MISS IN THE SEC HUNT
Coming into Thursday's match with a 2-1-1 record, Ole Miss is off to its best start to the conference season since 2009, when the Rebels opened the SEC portion of their schedule 3-1. With a win, the Rebels would match that 2009 team as well as the 2007 squad for the most points through five league matches since 2005. That season, Ole Miss rattled off seven-consecutive wins and lost just once in conference play to win the SEC West title with an 8-1-2 record.
