Soccer Facing League Champ Vanderbilt for Thursday's Senior Day

			OLE MISS (11-6-1) vs. VANDERBILT (15-1-1) Thursday, Oct. 25 • 6 p.m. • Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Soccer Stadium (1,300)
Watch • Live Stats • Ole Miss Match Notes • Vanderbilt Match Notes

PROMOTIONS
• Kick-or-Treat: Trick-or-treat stations will be set up around the concourse pregame, and a costume contest will be held at halftime! Winner will receive 2 tickets & sideline passes to the Ole Miss vs. South Carolina Football game.

KICKERS
• Ole Miss enters Thursday's regular season finale at 11-6-1, sitting fifth in the SEC table with16 points with a 5-3-1 record.
• The 16 points in SEC play is the most for Ole Miss since 2015, when the Rebels finished league play 7-4 for 21 points.
• Ole Miss has clinched a bid to the SEC Tournament and can lock up a first-round bye as a top-six seed with a win or draw Thursday.
• Sunday's attendance of 1,857 against Mississippi State was an Ole Miss Soccer Stadium record.
• Thursday's match will be Senior Day for the Rebels as Ole Miss honors its six seniors; Marnie Merritt, CeCe Kizer, Marisa Kutchma, Mary Kate Smith, Ella Frischknecht and Tara Sullivan.
• The Rebels kept a pair of clean sheets in the wins over Kentucky & Mississippi State last week, the first back-to-back shutouts on conference play for Ole Miss since a three-match run in 2014.
• After leading Ole Miss to its first consecutive shutouts since the openign two matches of the season, center back Grace Johnson was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week.
• After scoring the game-winning goal against MSU, Kizer regained sole-possession of the SEC lead with 13 goals on the season. Kizer also leads the league in points (34) and assists (8).
• With Channing Foster ranking tied for fifth in the league with four goals, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are the only teams in the SEC with two players ranked inside the top-five in scoring. Foster's five goals in conference play is tied for third most.
• Freshman goalkeeper Morgan McAslan registered her first two-career shutouts last week, making nine saves along the way.
• With a 4-1 victory over Kentucky on Sunday, Vanderbilt clinched its first regular season SEC title since 1994.
• The Commodores are led by freshman phenom Haley Hopkins, who is tied for second in the SEC in scoring with 12 goals, tying for first place in goals during conference play with seven.
• VU leads the all-time series with Ole Miss at 7-6-5, having beaten the Rebels in each of the last two meetings in 2015 and 2016. Prior to those results, Ole Miss posted a five-match winning streak over the 'Dores from 2010-14.

SCOUTING VANDERBILT
Having locked up its first SEC Regular Season Championship since 1994 with a win on Sunday, No. 12 Vanderbilt comes into Thursday night's match having not lost a single contest since their second match of the season, a 1-0 road defeat to then-No. 10 Florida State. The Commodores followed with 13-straight wins before drawing with No. 9 South Carolina. Vandy has won each of its last two matches, defeating Auburn and Kentucky.

The Commodores rank second in the SEC in scoring at 2.41 goals per match, scoring 41 times in 17 matches. However, much of Vanderbilt's scoring comes via 1-on-1 play, ranking just seventh in the league in assists per match at 1.71. The Commodores also have a stellar defensive record, allowing the third lowest goals per match in the SEC at 0.53 per, while collecting nine shutouts, tied for third most in the conference. Despite such a high ranking in goals allowed, the Commodores have recorded just 48 saves on the year, the second lowest mark in the SEC.

11 different players have scored this season for the Commodores, with a large chunk of the offense coming from freshman phenom Haley Hopkins. The redshirt-freshman forward ranks second in the SEC behind CeCe Kizer with 12 goals on the year, while adding six assists to also rank second in the league behind Kizer with 30 points. Junior Forward Kaylann Boyd has scored eight times to rank second on the team, with sophomore defender Madison Elwell and junior midfielder Grace Jackson have both chipped in four goals.

The 'Dores have deployed three different keepers in goal this season, with junior Lauren Demarchi starting all 17 matches. Demarchi leads the SEC with a 0.33 goals against average, having surrendered just four goals all year. Demarchi is also the SEC leader with a .907 save percentage, though she's been forced to make just 39 saves total, never having recorded more than five per match. Junior Taiana Tolleson has appeared in 10 matches, posting a 1.09 GAA in 411:24.

SERIES HISTORY - VANDERBILT
Vanderbilt holds a slight advantage in the all-time series with Ole Miss, entering Thursday's matchup with a 7-6-5 lead. The Commodores have won each of the least two matchups in 2015 and 2016, following a five-match winning streak by Ole Miss from 2010-14. When the two teams have met in Oxford, the Commodores have held a narrow lead in the series at 3-4-2.

LAST MEETING - VANDERBILT (10/23/16)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Ole Miss struck first but weren't able to maintain the advantage, falling to Vanderbilt 4-1 at the VU Soccer Complex.

Bella Fiorenzo pushed the Rebels in front in the 30th-minute, first earning a foul inside the 18-yard box and then finishing the penalty opportunity herself into the top left corner of the goal. However, Vanderbilt struck back in the 35th-minute on a Sydney O'Donnell goal.

After going into halftime deadlocked at a goal apiece, the Commodores scored in the 52nd, 69th and 78th-minutes to seize control and hand the Rebels an SEC road loss.

THANK YOU SENIORS!
As the final home match of the 2018 regular season, Thursday's affair will be Senior Day at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium. Ole Miss will honor the six members of its senior class: Tara Sullivan, Ella Frischknecht, Mary Kate Smith, Marisa Kutchma, CeCe Kizer and Marnie Merritt. Over the past four seasons, the senior class has posted a 44-29-8 record and a pair of NCAA Tournament bids, including Ole Miss' first-ever Sweet 16 trip in 2015.

PACK YOUR BAGS, WE'RE GOING TO "THE BEACH"
With Sunday's 2-0 Magnolia Cup victory over Mississippi State, Ole Miss clinched a birth in the 2018 SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Alabama. The top-six seeds in the tournament receive a first-round bye, with the Rebels currently sitting in fifth place in the league table with 16 points. Ole Miss can finish anywhere from fourth to seventh. With a win or a draw against Vanderbilt, the Rebels will lock up a top-six seed. The Rebels can also secure a top-six seed with an LSU loss or draw at Mississippi State.

MAGNOLIA CUP STAYS HOME IN OXFORD
For the fifth-consecutive season, the Magnolia Cup is staying in Oxford after Ole Miss' 2-0 victory over in-state rival Mississippi State on Sunday in front of a record crowd at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium. The Rebels scored a pair of second-half goals to earn the victory, with CeCe Kizer pushing Ole Miss ahead in the 67th-minute and Gabby Little adding a second goal just over three minutes later. The five-year streak in possession of the Magnolia Cup for Ole Miss is the longest unbeaten streak in the history of the series for either side.

JOHNSON NAMED SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
After a pair of superb performances on defense, helping Ole Miss record its first back-to-back shutouts since the season's first two matches, Rebel center back Grace Johnson was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week. The sophomore led the Rebels in virtually every defensive statistic in the 2-0 win over Kentucky before facing a Mississippi State squad with two of the SEC's top-10 scorers in Zakirah McGillivary and MaKayla Waldner. Anchoring the Ole Miss back line, Johnson shut down the Bulldogs' dynamic duo, holding the pair to a single shot on goal, including zero shots period from McGillivary. It was the third weekly award from the conference office for Ole Miss this season, adding to CeCe Kizer's offensive and Marnie Merritt's defensive laurels.

LOOKING GOOD, ROOK
Over the past two matches, freshman goalkeeper Morgan McAslan has been in great form. In last week's contests against Kentucky and Mississippi State, McAslan registered the first two shutouts of her collegiate career, helping the Rebels to their first consecutive shutouts in SEC play since 2014. The Waterdown, Ontario native made nine saves during the week, including a career-high seven stops in Ole Miss' Magnolia Cup victory. In her four appearances this season, McAslan has posted a 1.02 goals against average.

VOTE FOR CECE! KIZER TABBED SENIOR CLASS AWARD FINALIST
CeCe Kizer has been named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. One third of the selection criteria will be based on a fan vote, with Rebel fans encouraged to vote for CeCe at SeniorClassAward.com through Nov. 18. The winner will be announced at the 2018 Women's College Cup

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Players Mentioned

Bella Fiorenzo

Channing Foster

Ella Frischknecht

Grace Johnson

CeCe Kizer

Marisa Kutchma

Gabby Little

Morgan McAslan

Marnie Merritt

Mary Kate Smith

Tara Sullivan

The University of Mississippi Athletics