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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
North Alabama
Soccer Season Kicks Off Against North Alabama, Memphis
8/21/2019 | Soccer
Rebels Prepped for Season Opener Thursday, Looking for Revenge Sunday
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OLE MISS (0-0-0, 0-0-0) vs. NORTH ALABAMA (0-0-0, 0-0-0) Thursday, Aug. 22 • 7 p.m. • Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Soccer Stadium  |
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OLE MISS (0-0-0, 0-0-0) at MEMPHIS (0-0-0, 0-0-0) Sunday, Aug. 25 • 7 p.m. • Memphis, Tenn. Billy J. Murpy Soccer Complex Memphis Tiger Network |
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QUICK KICKS
• Ole Miss kicks off its 25th season all-time and the 10th under head coach Matt Mott. In his first nine seasons, Mott has guided the Rebels to four of the program's eight NCAA Tournament appearances, earning all four bids in the last six seasons.
• Ole Miss was picked to finish eighth in the SEC Preseason Coaches Poll, earning the fourth spot among SEC West teams.
• The Rebels were picked to finish seventh in the 2018 preseason poll, going on to tie for third with a 13-8-1 overall record, 6-3-1 in league play.
• The Rebels received 18 votes in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll. Ole Miss spent five weeks in the receiving votes section of the poll in 2018. Sunday's opponent, Memphis, is ranked No. 20 in the poll after going 17-4 last season.
• Ole Miss returns 14 letterwinners from the 2018 roster, seven of whom were regular members of the starting XI.
• Despite the departure of all-time goals and points record holder CeCe Kizer, Ole Miss returns 55 percent of its scoring output from a year ago, including Channing Foster and Haleigh Stackpole, who ranked second and third on the team with eight and five goals, respectively.
• With four-year starter Marnie Merritt also departed, sophomore Tennessee transfer Ashley Orkus looks poised to take over between the posts after redshirting in 2018.
• Three players were selected as team captains for the 2019 season: seniors Gabby Little and Julia Phillips and junior Grace Johnson.
• Ole Miss had three players selected to the SEC Preseason Watchlist in Johnson, Foster and Stackpole.
SCOUTING NORTH ALABAMA
North Alabama was picked to finish sixth in the 2019 Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason Poll, the same position in the table the Lions ended up at in their first season in the league. UNA finished the 2018 campaign with an 11-9-1 overall record, reaching the Championship Match of the ASUN Tournament.
UNA returns 16 letterwinners from a year ago, including eight members of the Starting XI. Senior defender Haley Yarber is the team's lone representative on the Preseason All-ASUN team, while 2018 goal leader Shelby Wall also returns for her senior season. With last season's starting keeper Shelby Thornton departed, senior Savannah Stewart is the only returner to play in goal in 2018.
SERIES HISTORY - NORTH ALABAMA
Thursday's opener will be the first-ever meeting between Ole Miss and North Alabama. The Lions are in their second season at the Division I level, moving up from Division II in 2018 and joining the Atlantic Sun Conference.
SCOUTING MEMPHIS
After going 17-4 and winning the American Conference Tournament, Memphis has been picked second in the AAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, tying USF with four first-place votes. The Tigers placed second in the league during the regular season in 2018, going 7-2.
Three Tigers were named Preseason All-AAC, including junior Elizabeth Moberg, who was voted the conference's preseason goalkeeper of the year. Senior midfielder Serena Dolan and junior forward Clarissa Larisey were also named to the team, giving Memphis the most representatives of any team. In all, the Tigers return 18 letterwinners from a year ago.
SERIES HISTORY - MEMPHIS
Ole Miss leads the all-time series in the derby with Memphis 12-7-2, though the Tigers got the best of the Rebels in 2018 with a 2-0 win in Oxford. The affair has been extremely tight as of late, with no team winning in consecutive seasons since Ole Miss took back-to-back matches in 2009-10. The two sides have needed extra time four times, with Ole Miss going 2-1-1 in those contests. Ole Miss and Memphis have failed to play one another just four times since both programs began in 1995.
LAST MEETING - MEMPHIS (9/16/18)
OXFORD, Miss. - Coming off a big win at Alabama to open SEC play, Memphis took a bit of the air out of Ole Miss' sails with a 2-0 road victory at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium.
It took the Tigers just over three minutes to grab the lead, Marie Levasseur receiving a perfectly weighted cross from Stasia Mallin, needing only a tap in in front of goal. The second half went back-and-forth but the Tigers put things away in the 69th minute as Serena Dolan delivered a bending shot to the far post from 17 yards out to double the Memphis lead. It was Ole Miss' first home non-conference loss since 2016.
REBELS PICKED EIGHTH in PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
Ole Miss was picked to finish eighth in the SEC Preseason Coaches' Poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches. The Rebels were selected No. 7 in the same poll in 2018, eventually going on to tie for third with a 13-8-1 overall record, 6-3-1 in SEC action.
2019 SEC PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
Team
1. Texas A&M
2. South Carolina
3. Vanderbilt
4. Tennessee
5. Florida
6. Arkansas
7. Auburn
8. Ole Miss
9. Alabama
10. Missouri
11. Mississippi State
12. LSU
13. Georgia
14. Kentucky
THEY SCORED HOW MANY?!?!
Not many programs are fortunate enough to boast one state high school record holder for career goals scored, let alone two as is the case for Ole Miss with Alley Houghton and Madisyn Pezzino. The Rebel duo were beyond prolific in their high school careers, combining for more than 500 goals. Houghton found the back of the net 250 times at Lafayette High School in Oxford, shattering the Mississippi record, including a record 71 goals as a senior. Pezzino took it even a step further during her days at Grand Island High School in Grand Island, New York, obliterating the career record at 251 scores, including the single season mark of 73 goals.
OXFORD'S OWN
Alley and Maddy Houghton grew up playing on the other side of the pitch against Mo O'Connor during their high school days, with the Houghton's teaming up for the Lafayette High School Commodores and O'Connor donning the blue and gold of the Oxford High School Chargers. Now, the trio have joined forces to play for their hometown school at the collegiate level, much to the delight of the local fan base in Oxford. At Lafayette, the Houghton's helped put the 'Dores on the map. Alley became the school's first ever Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year, breaking the state goals record with 250 in her career. Despite only playing high school soccer until her sophomore season, Maddy played four seasons on the varsity squad, joining Alley in helping LHS capture the state title in 2015. On the other side of town, O'Connor put together one of the more lauded careers in the state's history. The Charger striker was twice named the United Soccer Coaches and Gatorade Player of the Year for Mississippi, racking up 141 goals in five seasons while earning back-to-back state championship rings in 2016 and 2017.
The trio make up half of the six players from the state of Mississippi on the Ole Miss roster, the most in the 25-year history of Rebel soccer. They are joined by sophomore Lonnie Mulligan (Hattiesburg) and freshmen Elle Muirhead (Madison) and Jillian Rhian (Hattiesburg).
CENTURY MARK APPROACHING
As his 10th in Oxford kicks off, head coach Matt Mott is approaching a milestone victory at Ole Miss. Mott sits at 98 wins as the Rebel gaffer, just two away from reaching 100 head coaching wins for his career. After rising through the coaching ranks with various assistant positions at UCF, Auburn and Texas, Mott was tasked with taking over the Rebel program in 2010, becoming the school's second-ever head coach. Since then, Mott has guided Ole Miss to five double-digit win seasons, receiving a bid to the NCAA Tournament in four of the past six seasons.
TRIO TABBED TO SEC WATCH LIST
Grace Johnson, Channing Foster and Haleigh Stackpole were named to the SEC Preseason Watch List, a list recognizing the "players to watch" as selected by each team's head coach, it is the second-straight appearance on the preseason watch list for Foster, while Johnson and Stackpole each make their first showing.
Johnson has started all 42 matches since she began her Rebel career in 2017, anchoring the Rebel back line while tying for second on the team with four assists a season ago. Foster has been named Second Team All-SEC each of her first two collegiate seasons, netting 20 career goals entering her junior season. Stackpole immediately became a starting XI staple as a freshman a year ago, logging the second most minutes on the team and scoring five times on the way to Freshman All-SEC recognition.
ROSTER CONNECTIONS
There are numerous roster connections between Ole Miss and this week's opponents, North Alabama and Memphis.
• Elle Muirhead played with UNA junior Tay Cavett at Madison Central High School in Madison,
Mississippi
• UNA senior Savannah Stewart also hails from the Madison area, playing at Madison Ridgeland
Academy
• Saydie Holland and Lion junior Emma Stice played together at Sycamore High School in
Sycamore, Illinois
• Memphis also has a player from Madison Central in redshirt-senior Rachel Ashworth Shepard
• Tiger sophomore Lydia Herring played with Micaela Dusseault at Hutchison School in Memphis
• Unsurprisingly, four other Memphis natives are on the Tiger roster in sophomores Grace and
Caroline Duncan and senior Amanda Lamey
• Though they didn't play together, Elyse Reed and Memphis senior Stasia Mallin both graduated from Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana
EAST MEETS WEST ONCE AGAIN
For the first time since 2014 the Southeastern Conference has been split into two divisions in soccer. Ole Miss is once again a member of the SEC West, joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. The SEC East is comprised of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. The Rebels have claimed four SEC West titles, finishing in the top-two 12 times.
#2L2R
Each season, the Rebels select a mantra to play under during the year, with #2L2R serving as the team hashtag in 2019. The hashtag is shorthand for "to the left and to the right", symbolizing that each player will hold the person to their left and right accountable for their actions.
