.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference
10/7/2019 | Soccer
Ole Miss Head Soccer Coach Recaps Arkansas, Previews Florida and Georgia
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 loss at Arkansas before previewing Florida and Georgia.
Opening Statement
"First of all, congratulations to Coach McRoberts on the 3-0 start in SEC play, and congrats to Coach Luke on the win Saturday. That was an awesome night for us all.
"We had a rough game at Arkansas. We lost 3-0. Arkansas is a very good team. They are top-10 on the RPI and will probably be ranked in the top-10 here soon and they are 3-1 (in SEC play). I thought we started the game well. They got a goal off of a deflection and then we battled back-and-forth a bit before giving up a penalty late in the first half to go down 2-0, which made it very difficult. We came out in the second half working really hard to find one (goal) to get back into it and couldn't do it. We had everyone pushed forward late and they got a third goal on a counter. I'm disappointed for sure in the result, but it's a tough place to play on a Thursday night in Arkansas. Our players battled really hard.
"Unfortunately, we lost Maddy Houghton for the season to an injury, so that is something that we are certainly going to have to work through. She been a very good player for us all year. I think Maddy's probably the toughest player we have on the team, so to lose her is definitely really difficult and it doesn't get any easier. We knew this stretch of the season was going to be really difficult away at Arkansas, now we're home Thursday for a very, very good Florida team who just beat Texas A&M yesterday, 3-1.
"Florida looks good. They are dangerous up front, they are strong in the back. We're going to have to be at our best. I like the way our team is playing and progressing. Julia Phillips, in the midfield, is doing a really good job for us. We're getting really good midfield play and we're going to need to be at our best for Thursday night. The great thing is, it's at home, so hopefully we can get a great crowd and Rebel Nation to come out and help us.
"Then we head to Georgia on Sunday. Georgia's right in the middle of the pack with us. Just trying to get points to get ourselves our spot in the conference tournament down at The Beach. It will be another tough match on Sunday down in Athens."
On the need to score more in conference play
"We've created a number of chances and we're just not finishing them. It's positive and negative. It's positive because we are creating chances, if we weren't creating chances I would be very concerned. The negative part is we're just not finishing them well enough. Either the goal keepers are making good saves, or we're just not putting the balls in the corners and doing things we need to do to finish off chances. The idea that we are creating those chances, creating corner kicks is big. Set pieces are really big for us. We have some players that are very dominant in the air, so we need to create more off of that. We need to score more. It's hard to win 1-0 in this league, so we need to find ways to get more goals."
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.
Opening Statement
"First of all, congratulations to Coach McRoberts on the 3-0 start in SEC play, and congrats to Coach Luke on the win Saturday. That was an awesome night for us all.
"We had a rough game at Arkansas. We lost 3-0. Arkansas is a very good team. They are top-10 on the RPI and will probably be ranked in the top-10 here soon and they are 3-1 (in SEC play). I thought we started the game well. They got a goal off of a deflection and then we battled back-and-forth a bit before giving up a penalty late in the first half to go down 2-0, which made it very difficult. We came out in the second half working really hard to find one (goal) to get back into it and couldn't do it. We had everyone pushed forward late and they got a third goal on a counter. I'm disappointed for sure in the result, but it's a tough place to play on a Thursday night in Arkansas. Our players battled really hard.
"Unfortunately, we lost Maddy Houghton for the season to an injury, so that is something that we are certainly going to have to work through. She been a very good player for us all year. I think Maddy's probably the toughest player we have on the team, so to lose her is definitely really difficult and it doesn't get any easier. We knew this stretch of the season was going to be really difficult away at Arkansas, now we're home Thursday for a very, very good Florida team who just beat Texas A&M yesterday, 3-1.
"Florida looks good. They are dangerous up front, they are strong in the back. We're going to have to be at our best. I like the way our team is playing and progressing. Julia Phillips, in the midfield, is doing a really good job for us. We're getting really good midfield play and we're going to need to be at our best for Thursday night. The great thing is, it's at home, so hopefully we can get a great crowd and Rebel Nation to come out and help us.
"Then we head to Georgia on Sunday. Georgia's right in the middle of the pack with us. Just trying to get points to get ourselves our spot in the conference tournament down at The Beach. It will be another tough match on Sunday down in Athens."
On the need to score more in conference play
"We've created a number of chances and we're just not finishing them. It's positive and negative. It's positive because we are creating chances, if we weren't creating chances I would be very concerned. The negative part is we're just not finishing them well enough. Either the goal keepers are making good saves, or we're just not putting the balls in the corners and doing things we need to do to finish off chances. The idea that we are creating those chances, creating corner kicks is big. Set pieces are really big for us. We have some players that are very dominant in the air, so we need to create more off of that. We need to score more. It's hard to win 1-0 in this league, so we need to find ways to get more goals."
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.
Players Mentioned
D/MF
/ Soccer
MF
/ SoccerHIGHLIGHTS: Soccer vs. Kentucky (10/10/25)
Friday, October 10
Walk-and-Talk with Ole Miss Soccer: Sidney O'Billovich
Friday, October 10
Walk-and-Talk with Ole Miss Soccer: Briana Rodriguez
Friday, October 10
Walk-and-Talk with Ole Miss Soccer: Katie Ramsden
Friday, October 10