The University of Mississippi Athletics
Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference
9/10/2018 | Soccer
Ole Miss Soccer Head Coach Matthew Mott met with members of the media on Monday as part of his weekly press conference. Coach Mott recapped Friday's loss to UConn and Sunday's win over FAU before previewing this week's matches at Alabama and at home against Memphis.
Opening Statementโฆ
"It was certainly a strange weekend for us in Fayetteville. We went down very early in the match to UConn 3-0 in the first 20 minutes, which is very uncharacteristic of our team. Then, we needed to battle back and I thought we did that. We got it to within a goal late in the game at 4-3 and hit the crossbar with under a minute to go, which would have sent it to overtime. We're certainly disappointed with the result. I think we played, outside of the first 20 minutes, well enough to win the game but you can't spot a team three goals, certainly not a team as quality as UConn. I was disappointed with that performance but I think the good thing that came out of that game was that UConn exposed some weaknesses that we had that showed up and that prepared us for Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. against FAU. We gave up an early goal off of a few mistakes but then really showed some great character to battle back and tie it before halftime. Then, from one captain to another captain, Mary Kate Smith made a great pass to Gabby Little to set up the game-winner with less than two minutes to go. Through the weekend the fight of our team was really good. Our execution offensively is quite good and we just need to do a little bit better defensively. I think we have done that and we'll be ready for a very difficult week. We open up conference play at Alabama in Tuscaloosa. They're a team that is scoring a ton of goals so we have to be good defensively. Our players are motivated and excited. It will be our fifth game in a row on the road, which is difficult but this team is handling it really well. Then, we're back here Sunday for our derby against Memphis, our biggest rival outside of conference play. They're a team we know very well, playing them every spring and fall. They're a very good and dangerous team. They have some good attacking players and they're strong defensively as well. We have to be ready for certainly our toughest week of the season to this point. I'm really happy with the team and the way we're competing and how we're playing. This non-conference season has set us up well. The conference looks really strong as it always is but this year probably even a little more so. There are a number of teams still undefeated and everybody else has maybe one or two losses. We have it all to play for and we start it this week so we're excited for that."
On what he's learned about the team over the last week and what they need to focus onโฆ
"First of all, four games in a row on the road is difficult. Two weekends back-to-back were long for them. I knew that when we scheduled it and we had a chance to play some good teams. I knew it would be hard and it was. This year's non-conference schedule is much tougher than last year's and knowing we had a veteran team I wanted to do that. We made some mistakes against UConn that we may have made earlier but didn't pay for it and UConn was god enough to punish us. Weren't good enough inside our box defending and didn't put enough pressure on the ball and they exposed us. But I was impressed with how we came back and fought. We got it back to 3-2, then they scored again and we got it back to 3-4 and hit the post. We had a chance to make an unbelievable comeback but fell just short.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss Soccer on Twitter at @OleMissSoccer, on Facebook atย Facebook.com/OleMissSoccer, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/officialolemisssoccer. Also follow head coach Matt Mott on Twitter atย @CoachMattMott.
Opening Statementโฆ
"It was certainly a strange weekend for us in Fayetteville. We went down very early in the match to UConn 3-0 in the first 20 minutes, which is very uncharacteristic of our team. Then, we needed to battle back and I thought we did that. We got it to within a goal late in the game at 4-3 and hit the crossbar with under a minute to go, which would have sent it to overtime. We're certainly disappointed with the result. I think we played, outside of the first 20 minutes, well enough to win the game but you can't spot a team three goals, certainly not a team as quality as UConn. I was disappointed with that performance but I think the good thing that came out of that game was that UConn exposed some weaknesses that we had that showed up and that prepared us for Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. against FAU. We gave up an early goal off of a few mistakes but then really showed some great character to battle back and tie it before halftime. Then, from one captain to another captain, Mary Kate Smith made a great pass to Gabby Little to set up the game-winner with less than two minutes to go. Through the weekend the fight of our team was really good. Our execution offensively is quite good and we just need to do a little bit better defensively. I think we have done that and we'll be ready for a very difficult week. We open up conference play at Alabama in Tuscaloosa. They're a team that is scoring a ton of goals so we have to be good defensively. Our players are motivated and excited. It will be our fifth game in a row on the road, which is difficult but this team is handling it really well. Then, we're back here Sunday for our derby against Memphis, our biggest rival outside of conference play. They're a team we know very well, playing them every spring and fall. They're a very good and dangerous team. They have some good attacking players and they're strong defensively as well. We have to be ready for certainly our toughest week of the season to this point. I'm really happy with the team and the way we're competing and how we're playing. This non-conference season has set us up well. The conference looks really strong as it always is but this year probably even a little more so. There are a number of teams still undefeated and everybody else has maybe one or two losses. We have it all to play for and we start it this week so we're excited for that."
On what he's learned about the team over the last week and what they need to focus onโฆ
"First of all, four games in a row on the road is difficult. Two weekends back-to-back were long for them. I knew that when we scheduled it and we had a chance to play some good teams. I knew it would be hard and it was. This year's non-conference schedule is much tougher than last year's and knowing we had a veteran team I wanted to do that. We made some mistakes against UConn that we may have made earlier but didn't pay for it and UConn was god enough to punish us. Weren't good enough inside our box defending and didn't put enough pressure on the ball and they exposed us. But I was impressed with how we came back and fought. We got it back to 3-2, then they scored again and we got it back to 3-4 and hit the post. We had a chance to make an unbelievable comeback but fell just short.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss Soccer on Twitter at @OleMissSoccer, on Facebook atย Facebook.com/OleMissSoccer, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/officialolemisssoccer. Also follow head coach Matt Mott on Twitter atย @CoachMattMott.
Players Mentioned
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/ Soccer
D/MF
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