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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
No. 5 Texas A&M
Soccer Set for Friday Tilt with No. 5 Texas A&M in Oxford
9/27/2018 | Soccer
Fifth Ranked Aggies to Pose Another Tough Test for Ole Miss
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OLE MISS (8-4) vs. NO. 5 TEXAS A&M (11-1) Friday, Sept. 28 • 7 p.m. • Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Soccer Stadium (1,300)  |
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| Watch • Live Stats • Ole Miss Match Notes • Texas A&M Match Notes | ||||||||
KICKERS
• The Rebels are coming off of a 3-2 road upset of No. 9 Auburn Sunday night on The Plains.
• CeCe Kizer had a day to remember, scoring twice in the second half to lift Ole Miss past the Tigers
• Both goals carried big milestones, as the first broke the Ole Miss program record for goals in a career (her 45th) and the second gave the senior 110 career points, also an Ole Miss record.
• The brace gives Kizer 11 multi-goal matches in her career, including three already this season.
• Kizer's second goal was the 13th game-winner of her prolific career.
• The victory was the first over a ranked opponent for Ole Miss since defeating No. 24 Texas A&M on the road in 2015. The scorer of that match's game-winner? CeCe Kizer.
• The win was also the first for the Rebels over a top-10 team since upending No. 7 Florida 3-2 in overtime in 2009.
• After playing the No. 31 ranked Tennessee and defeating No. 11 Auburn during the week, the Rebels moved up 15 spots to the No. 65 position in the NCAA RPI report.
• Ole Miss faces another challenging opponent this week, hosting Texas A&M Friday night at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium. The Aggies are ranked No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the NCAA RPI report.
• The Aggies lead the all-time series with Ole Miss 5-2-1, including a 2-0 victory last season in College Station. Neither side has recorded back-to-back wins in the series since the Aggies won the first three meetings from 2012-14.
• The Rebel defense will be tasked with slowing down Aggie striker Ally Watt, who leads the SEC with 46 shots on the year and ranks tied for second in goals with 8.
• Ole Miss will also have a challenge in breaking down the Aggies offensively. Texas A&M leads the league with nine shutouts in its 12 matches.
• With her two-goal effort on Sunday, Kizer regained the outright NCAA lead with 26 points this season, while ranking tied for second with 11 goals.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M comes to Oxford as one of the hottest teams not only in the SEC but in the entire country. Ranked at No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, the Aggies have lost just once at 11-1, outscoring their opponents 33-5, with all but one of their wins coming by multiple goals. The Texas A&M offense has been on fire all season long, ranking second in the nation with 33 goals in 2018, while coming in at sixth in total points with 92. The defense for the Aggies has also been a tough code to crack, with A&M ranking 12th nationally with a 0.417 goals against average and sixth in the nation with a .750 shutout percentage.
Junior forward Ally Watt is the straw that stirs the drink that is the Texas A&M offense. Watt, a First Team All-SEC honoree in 2017 and U20 USWNT participant, ranks second in the SEC and 14th in the nation with eight goals on the year, while ranking 21st in the NCAA with 18 points. Watt has scored in seven of the Aggies' 12 matches this season. Outside of Watt, the rest of the scoring for Texas A&M is pretty well spead around amongst 11 players. Junior midfielder Grace Piper ranks second on the team with four goals, while four players are tied for third with three scores. Among those four Aggies is senior defender Kendall Ritchie, who is fifth in the nation with seven assists.
Ritchie, a 2017 Second Team All-SEC performer, anchors the back line for A&M, helping the Aggies to nine shutouts on the season. In goal, it's been the Cosette Morché show. A senior from Lawrenceville, Georgia, Morché has played all 1,080 minutes for the Aggies, posting a 0.42 goals against average with an 0.861 save percentage on 31 stops.
SERIES HISTORY - TEXAS A&M
A still somewhat new conference rivalry, Texas A&M and Ole Miss have matched up eight times in the all-time series, with the Aggies holding a 5-2-1 advantage. After the Aggies won the first three meetings from 2012-14, the series has been a rather back-and-forth affair, with no team registering consecutive victories. The last three matches between the Rebels and Aggies have been dead split at 1-1-1, with Texas A&M winning last season's affair in College Station, repaying Ole Miss for a 2-1 defeat in Oxford the year before.
LAST MEETING - TEXAS A&M (10/13/17)
On a night that featured a lot of offense and even better defense and goalkeeping, No. 20 Texas A&M used a late goal to vault past the Rebels at Ellis Field in College Station.
The shot count for the two sides was virtually neck-and-neck at 16-to-15 in favor of the Aggies. However, Texas A&M was able to test the Ole Miss goal far more often with 12 shots on goal compared to four for the Rebels.
Facing a barrage of shots from the Aggies, Rebel keeper Marnie Merritt was up to the task. The then-junior made a career-high 10 saves, with the Rebels also receiving a team save off the line to keep the match scoreless.
Unfortunately, Merritt's excellent performance came up just short as the Aggies were able to take advantage of a Rebel giveaway in the defensive third, breaking on the counter before Mikaela Harvey went upper-90 from 10-yards out with less than three minutes to play to seal the win for the home team.
KIZER'S MILESTONE DAY LIFTS REBELS OVER NO. 9 AUBURN
CeCe Kizer had a match to remember last Sunday at Auburn, breaking a pair of Ole Miss records to lead the Rebels to a huge win over the No. 9 Tigers. After Channing Foster brought the Rebs level in the first half with a laser of a strike from 20 yards out, the second half belonged to the senior from Overland Park, Kansas. Kizer wasted no time in pulling Ole Miss ahead in the second half, scoring less than 30 seconds in to break the Rebels' all-time career goals record with her 45th in an Ole Miss kit. Following a response from the Tigers, Kizer scored one of the finest goals of her career, taking on the entire Auburn defense on a 75-yard run to notch the game-winner. The score carried even further significance, setting a new all-time mark for career points at Ole Miss at 110 for her career. The victory gave Ole Miss its first win over a ranked opponent since 2015 and the first over a top-10 opponenet since 2009.
REBELS MAKE A MOVE IN THE RPI REPORT
Coming in at No. 80 in the first NCAA RPI report of the season, Ole Miss jumped up 15 spots after last week's results, coming in at No. 65. Taking on No. 11 Tennessee and No. 19 Auburn a week ago, the Rebels will have an opportunity to make another big jump after this weekend, with Texas A&M coming in at No. 7 this week.
VIRGINIA IS FOR... FLORIDA STATE TRANSFERS?
Rebel midfielder Julia Phillips will be seeing a familiar face on Friday, though for just the second time ever Phillips and Aggie defender Briana Alston will be facing off as opponents after growing up playing together most of their lives. Both natives of Ashburn, Virginia, Phillips and Alston were both teammates both at the high school and club level, lacing up their boots for Stonebridge High School and FC Virginia ECNL. Following high school, both Phillips and Alston signed to play at Florida State, ultimately tranferring following their freshman season. Both players have become staples of the starting XI for their respective teams, with Phillips making 30 starts the past two seasons in Oxford and Alston cracking the A&M starting XI 31 times.
OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
For the second-straight season, Ole Miss is 2-1 to start SEC play, matching the program's best start to league action since 2007. The Rebels will be looking to open the SEC portion of their schedule 3-1 for the first time since 2009. That season, the Ole Miss finished the season 7-2-2 in conference, good for second in the West and an NCAA Tournament bid.
