The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Alabama
Rebel Soccer Kicking Off SEC Play at Alabama
9/12/2018 | Soccer
Ole Miss Looking to Avenge 2017's Overtime Loss to the Crimson Tide
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OLE MISS (6-2) vs. ALABAMAย (5-2-1) Thursday, Sept. 13 โข 7 p.m. โข Tuscaloosa, Ala. University of Alabama Soccer Complex (1,500)  |
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| Watchย โข Liveย Stats โข Ole Miss Match Notes โข Alabama Match Notes | ||||||||
KICKERS
โข The Rebels are coming off of a 1-1 neutral-site trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas this past weekend. The Rebels fell behind early and had their comeback attempt come up just short against UConn, 3-4. Ole Miss bounced back Sunday morning with a dramatic 2-1 win over FAU, with captain Gabby Little scoring the game-winner in the 89th-minute.
โข Thursday's affair will be the fifth-straight away from home for Ole Miss. The Rebels have gone 3-1 through the first four matches of the road swing.
โข This week's matches will provide the strongest test of the season for Ole Miss, with Alabama and Memphis bringing a combined 11-3-1 record for the season.
โข The Crimson Tide offense has rivaled Ole Miss for the most dangerous in the SEC, leading the conference in points with 73, while sitting just one goal short of the Rebels for the SEC lead at 25.
โข The Rebels continue to be one of the SEC's most dangerous offensive forces. Ole Miss leads the league in goals with 26, while ranking second in goals per game (3.25) and points (71).
โข The Rebels have dominated the possession in the majority of their contests in 2018, demonstrated by a 163-77 advantage in terms of shots, including 57-18 in shots on goal.
โข Marking a milestone in one of the most decorated careers in Ole Miss history, CeCe Kizer tied the school record for career goals in Sunday's win over FAU, scoring the 44th of her career.
โข Kizer, the nation's active leader in career scoring, leads all of Division I this season with nine goals and 22 points, also pacing the Rebels with four assists on the year.
โข Haleigh Stackpole found the back of the net for the third time in four matches against UConn. The freshman ranks second on the team with four goals in 2018, with three of her scores being game-winners.
SCOUTING ALABAMA
After going winless through the first three contests of the season, Alabama has rattled off five wins in a row, racking up 22 goals and surrendering just a pair. Ranking in the middle of the pack in the SEC in most offensive statistics in 2017, the Crimson Tide have turned it on to start the 2018 campaign. Alabama is the SEC leader in total points with 73, while sitting just behind Ole Miss for second in goals at 25 and four assists shy of Auburn for the league lead with 23. Defensively, the Tide have allowed eight goals in eight matches, posting a 0.97 goals against average.
11 different players have scored for the Crimson Tide, with sophomore forward Casey Wertz leading the way with five goals, tied for fifth in the league. Freshman midfielder Kat Rogers is right behind Wertz with four goals, while senior forward Abbie Boswell has found the back of the net three times. Boswell is also tied with sophomore midfielder Taylor Morgan for the team lead with four assists on the season. Wertz, Rogers and Boswell are all tied for the team-best mark in points with 10 each.
Three different players have appeared in goal for the Crimson Tide. Sophomore Alex Plavin has been the bell cow, registering over 593 minutes and posting a 0.91 GAA with 27 saves and three shutouts. After Plavin was shown a red card in the season opener against TCU, defender Nealy Martin made an emergency appearance in goal for 48 seconds before redshirt-freshman Kaylee Hammer came on to finish out the match. Hammer also made the start at North Texas with Plavin serving a one-game suspension. In her time, Hammer has allowed a pair of goals for a 1.24 GAA, registering nine saves along the way.
SERIES HISTORY - ALABAMA
Thursday's meeting will be the 25th all-time between Ole Miss and Alabama, with the Rebels claiming two-thirds of the first 24 matchups at 16-8. Prior to last season's crushing loss in the waning minutes of overtime, the Rebels had been riding a six-match winning streak over the Crimson Tide, including three-consecutive in Tuscaloosa. Ole Miss is 6-5 all-time in Tuscaloosa, winning five of the last six meetings between the Rebels and the Tide in the Yellowhammer State.
LAST MEETING - ALABAMA (10/26/17)
Alabama put a damper on Ole Miss' senior night, handing the Rebels a 1-0 defeat in overtime on a penalty kick goal by Hailey Brohaugh.
Ole Miss arguably had the better of the chances in regulation but each time in one way or another the Rebels were denied from taking the lead. Gabby Little had the best chance of the match, drilling a shot off the underside of the crossbar and watching the ball bounce nearly straight down, failing to completely cross the line.
With less than five minutes played in the second overtime period, Ole Miss was called for a penalty on the edge of the box and Brohaugh converted to give the Crimson Tide the victory.
LOOKING TO BUCK RECENT HISTORY
When it has come to the SEC opener, recent history has not been kind to Ole Miss. No player on the Rebel roster, including fifth-year senior Marnie Merritt, has ever won the conference-opener in an Ole Miss kit. The Rebels have lost their last three opening games in league play, while playing to a 1-1 draw with Georgia in 2014. Ole Miss is 10-11-2 all-time in the SEC opener, dropping the only previous matchup with Alabama in 2010 in Tuscaloosa.
RECORD WATCH: CECE KIZER
With her 15th-minute goal in last Sunday's match against FAU in Fayetteville, senior CeCe Kizer tied the Ole Miss all-time record for goals in a career. The Overland Park, Kansas native has found the back of the net 44 times in a Rebel kit, laying claim to two of the top-10 greatest goal-scoring seasons in program history, netting 14 as a freshman and 16 a season ago. The prolific scorer is also just three points from breaking the career-record in that category, having racked up 106 points in her career.
RECORD WATCH: MARNIE MERRITT
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 at Ole Miss. Merritt has registered 20 clean sheets in her Rebel career, three 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 five more to surpass Kelly McCormick for the Ole Miss record.
YOU'RE LOOKING AT A WINNER, WINNER, WINNER
Despite having played just eight collegiate matches in her life, midfielder Haleigh Stackpole has wasted no time in become one of Ole Miss' most clutch players. The Ft. Bragg, North Carolina native has scored four times in her Rebel career, with three of those scores serving as game-winners. Stackpole ranks fifth in the nation with three game-winning goals, just one shy of the national lead.
NO SLOWING HER DOWN
Since stepping on campus in Oxford four years ago, CeCe Kizer has established herself as one of the great goal scorers not only in the SEC but across the nation. The senior has been up to her old tricks in 2018, racking up nine goals through eight matches to tie for the national lead with UMKC's Kelsey Mothershead. Kizer is also the national leader in points, sitting alone at the top of the NCAA with 22.
RED HOT OFFENSE
Over the past few years, Ole Miss and goal scoring have become synonymous across the landscape of Division I soccer. Nothing has changed in that regard as the Rebels continue to put forth one of the great offenses in the nation. With its 26 goals on the season, Ole Miss is the nation's leader in scoring in 2018, while the Rebels are ranked second in total points, just two shy of Alabama. The bulk of Ole Miss' scoring offense comes from linked play, with the Rebels having registered the 10th most assists in the nation at 19.
OH CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS
While Ole Miss dominated FAU throughout the entire match last Sunday in Fayetteville, the two teams remained tied until the 89th minute, when Gabby Little's header off a perfect cross from fellow captain Mary Kate Smith secured the late victory for the Rebels. It was the latest game-winning goal in regulation for Ole Miss since Rafaelle Souza bagged the winner with less than a minute left on the clock against LSU at the SEC Tournament in 2012.
Ole Miss showed its resolve in the match, falling behind just 1:31 in. CeCe Kizer tied things up at a goal apiece in the 15th-minute and from there it was all Ole Miss. The Rebels out-shot the Owls 19-5 in the match, earning seven corner kicks to FAU's one.
