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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference
10/14/2019 | Soccer
Ole Miss Head Soccer Coach Recaps Florida and Georgia, Previews Alabama
Ole Miss Soccer Head Coach Matt Mott met with members of the media on Monday as part of his weekly press conference. Coach Mott recapped this past week's win against Florida and loss at Georgia before previewing Alabama.
Opening Statement
"Exciting game last Thursday. We had the Florida Gators in town. To say we haven't been that successful against them here in my time is probably an understatement, we're 0-9. We were able to come in a beat them 3-2 which was a huge win for us at this time where we are trying to win, trying to get points, trying to get to The Beach. All of those things we are chasing.
"Our team played great. We came out with a ton of energy and a ton of fire and really took it to them right away. They scored first, about 20 minutes into the game, and that was really one of the only chances they had in the first half. Grace Johnson got injured, was laying on the ground, and play continued. They served the ball into an open player and scored. We responded really well and scored a great goal just before half, which I think was massive to go 1-1 into half.
"We came out the second half and got a goal from Lonnie Mulligan to get it to 2-1. Then, they scored a few minutes later to go 2-2 and we battled back and forth. Late in the game Haleigh Stackpole played a great ball on a free-kick and Molly Martin just jumped over everybody to score it to give us a lead with about 14 minutes to go. Then we sat in and hung on a little bit to give us the result. Massive result for us. They are ranked in the top-25 and their RPI was 11 going into the game, so it was a big time win for us and our resume.
"Turn around and we had to go to Athens yesterday. We played a very good Georgia team and we fell 2-1. We scored the first goal in the second half and just kind of ran out of legs in that half. We took another injury to Sydney Michalak late in the game. Grace Johnson played very valiantly but had to come out for some of that time. We're getting a little thin in the back, but we have some guys who have really battled through. Madison Smith has played great all weekend. Ashley Orkus in goal had another really big time weekend for us. Gabby Little was good as well.
"The thing I like about our team is that we are creating a bunch of chances. We're creating the chances, but we just have to finish them. It's like at times we're in front of the goal, but we're almost out of tempo. I tell the girls it's like a golf swing, if you're in really good tempo like a golf swing, that's the way you have to strike the ball. You have to have a good first touch and you have to finish all the way through with consistency and tempo. And at times we just don't have that in front of goal, so we have to find some more consistency in our ball striking. If we can do that we are going to finish some more of these chances off. We had a couple yesterday that just missed wide or just missed over, and that's frustrating at this point, especially for our players. If we can clean that up a little bit we are going to get great chances and will finish them off.
"This week we have a massive game against Alabama here. They're ranked high in the RPI as well in the twenties. They are sitting at 10 points. We are sitting at 8 points (in SEC play). It's a big big game for seeding and trying to get to The Beach. We're not at The Beach yet, we need points to get there. I think we'll need probably over 10-11 to feel comfortable that you're going to get one of those 10 spots. It's a big big game against Alabama this weekend and luckily it's just a one game week for us."
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss Soccer on Twitter at @OleMissSoccer, on Facebook at Facebook.com/OleMissSoccer, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/officialolemisssoccer. Also follow head coach Matt Mott on Twitter at @CoachMattMott.
