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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Matt Mott Weekly Press Conference
9/28/2020 | Soccer
Ole Miss Head Soccer Coach Recaps LSU, Previews Mississippi State
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 victory over LSU before previewing Friday's matchup with Mississippi State.
Opening Statement
"Hello everyone! Thanks for joining us again, good weekend for us. We went down to Baton Rouge, which is always a difficult place to play, on Sunday and took on LSU in their home opener. They have a brand-new head coach, it was her first home game. We were able to take the game 1-0. Started off kind of how you'd expect, flying, they were flying, really fired-up, had a lot of control for probably the first 10-15 minutes. But then I thought we took over the game at that point, maybe 15 minutes into the game, and really put a lot of pressure on them. We should have scored a goal before halftime, maybe two. And then, we got the goal in the 58th minute with Saydie Holland on a corner kick that she headed in. Very, very good goal. Then we were able to see the game out really. Ashley Orkus had a good game in goal, not really tested that much but did everything we needed her to do. So now we get ready for State. We have Mississippi State here on Friday night in a national TV game for the Magnolia Cup, we play for the trophy every year. It should be a really good game. They tied Auburn their first game, then tied Alabama too, two really good teams. So, it's going to be a tough battle as it always is, but I like where our team is. We did a much better job defending, and obviously having a clean sheet was important. We're battling every single day. The guys in the back did a good job. I liked the way we moved the ball. We need to get the ball into our playmakers a little bit more in Channing Foster and Haleigh Stackpole and those guys. But, overall I'm happy with where the team is and getting ready for State."
On the difference of traveling this year…
"Much different. We took two busses, we traveled with 28 total staff and players. 14 on one bus, 14 on the other bus. So, two busses. We all were wearing N-95 masks on the bus. We got to the hotel and, typically, our routine is to get to the sight, go there and practice. We didn't do that, we just went straight to the hotel and did just a little jog and stretch outside the hotel. We had our meal delivered to us, ate inside the hotel and had a quick meeting. Again, all wearing masks and all that kinds stuff. And then, the next morning we again just ate breakfast and went over to the field. Just about as short of a time as we could have in the locker room before we went out and played. And then, luckily for us again, we thank Keith Carter and Lynette Johnson, we got to fly home. We flew home on a charter plane. We were home about an hour and a half later after we left the game. But same thing, wearing N-95 maks just trying to stay as safe as we can. We've been very fortunate to not deal with much of the COVID, we're just trying to stay away from it.
On adjusting the game plan…
"We started Mo O'Connor up front, I think that was a big plus for us. She played really well in the game. She had two great looks. I think if you give it to her again, she probably scores both of them. We're excited about where she's going. We did go to a two-front, which created for us a little more activity. In other words, they have to deal with Channing and now add another forward up there for us. I thought we did a good job. The guys in midfield worked really, really hard to create stuff for us. We're dangerous on set pieces, long-throws, corners. We're always going to be dangerous because we have great height. Saydie Holland just went up and jumped over everybody to head the ball in, it was a really good goal from her on the back post. I think we are good on set pieces, so that's somewhere where we can be dangerous all year."
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.
