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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Alabama
SEC Play Looms as Soccer Hosts Alabama
9/15/2021 | Soccer
Rebels and Tide to Tangle Thursday Night in Oxford
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OLE MISS (4-1-2, 0-0-0) vs. ALABAMA (4-4-0, 0-0-0) Thursday, Sept. 16 • 6 p.m. CT • Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Soccer Stadium  |
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| WATCH • LIVE STATS OLE MISS NOTES (PDF) • ALABAMA NOTES (PDF) • SEC NOTES (PDF) |
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QUICK KICKS
• Ole Miss opens up SEC play on Thursday, hosting Alabama in Oxford.
• The Rebels last opened conference play against the Crimson Tide in 2018, when Ole Miss came away from Tuscaloosa with a 1-0 victory.
• Ole Miss is coming off of a 1-0 road victory on Sunday, handing WKU its first loss of the season. The Rebels dominated the pace of play, outshooting the Hilltoppers 12-3, including 7-1 on shots on goal.
• With the win, the Rebels are undefeated in their last six road matches, picking up five wins along the way.
• Molly Martin scored the lone goal of the match, taking over sole possession as leading scorer for the Rebels with her fifth goal of the season.
• Martin has needed just 15 shots to register her five goals. Her 33.3% conversion rate is tied for ninth in the nation.
• Haleigh Stackpole set up Martin for the game-winner, giving the senior an assist on each of Ole Miss' last seven goals.
• Stackpole is tied for third in the nation with eight assists on the season.
• Channing Foster is the SEC's active leading scorer with 39 goals in her career. Foster and Martin are tied for eighth in the league this season with four goals.
• Ole Miss received 18 votes in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Poll.
SCOUTING ALABAMA
The Crimson Tide are in their seventh season under head coach Wes Hart, who took over the program ahead of the 2015 season. Under Hart, Alabama has made one trip to the NCAA Tournament, earning the third bid in program-history in 2017 after finishing the regular season with four straight SEC victories.
The Crimson Tide picked up a win in their most recent match, a 2-0 home victory over UAB on Sunday. That win snapped a three-match losing streak to Samford, Memphis and TCU. Alabama is 0-2 this season on the road, losing at Florida State and Memphis.
Alabama is led offensively by Virginia transfer forward Ashlynn Serepca, who has scored three times and added an assists for seven points. Sophomore midfielder Kate Henderson is also a threat in the attacking third, posting a pair of goals and assists apiece for six points.
Two keepers have seen time between the posts for the Tide in Florida State transfer McKinley Crone and Oklahoma transfer Brooke Bollinger. In her first season in Tuscaloosa, Crone led the SEC in goalkeeper minutes last season and has played the bulk of the minutes this season, starting six matches and making eight appearances with a 1.58 goals against average and a .667 save percentage. In her first season at Alabama, Bollinger has made five appearances with two starts, garnering a 1.98 GAA and a .500 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Alabama, posting an 18-8-1 record in 27 matchups. While the Rebels have dominated the recent history between the two sides with 16 wins in the last 20 meetings. However, the Tide have turned things back towards the middle the last few years, with Ole Miss going 2-1-1 in the last four.
LAST MEETING
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Ole Miss scored in the early minutes of both halves, adding in a quality defensive performance all around to shutout Alabama 2-0.
The Rebels got off to a flying start, opening scoring in the 10th minute. The opportunity came from a long throw-in by Taylor Radecki, with Channing Foster beating Alabama keeper McKinley Crone to the bouncing ball in the box and heading into the open net.
Seven minutes later the Crimson Tide nearly equalized, with Gigi Schorr's shot taking a deflection and fading just inches wide of the far post for a corner.
Following the break, Ole Miss came right back out of the gate hot, doubling its lead in the 51st minute. Collecting a loose ball on the wing, Ramsey Davis laid off to Mo O'Connor at the top of the 18. The Oxford product cut it loose with her left and a deflection off a Crimson Tide leg sent the ball directly into the left side of the net for an own goal.
With a two-goal advantage in hand, the Rebels kept on the attack, creating a few chances that ended in near misses of a third tally. With desperation setting in, Alabama threw everything they had in the final 10 minutes but the Rebels were up to the task.
After an excellent clearance off the line by Price Loposer in the 80th minute, Orkus came through with back-to-back clutch saves in the 82nd and 84th minute to keep the clean sheet intact and give Ole Miss the victory.
CLINICAL FINISHING
Leading Ole Miss in scoring with five goals on the season, Molly Martin has taken full advantage of a relatively few number of scoring chances for a player with such a high scoring mark. Martin has needed just 15 total shots to score her five goals, tied for the ninth best conversion percentage in the country among qualified players.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Through the first seven matches of the season, seniors Channing Foster and Molly Martin have been in the thick of the scoring action. The pair has teamed up to score nine of the Rebels' 13 goals this season, including each of the last four. The senior duo have had a bulk of the chances for the Rebels, with Foster leading the team with 33 shots and Martin sitting second at 15.
AT YOUR SERVICE
Haleigh Stackpole has been putting balls on platters for her teammates all season long, tying for third in the nation with eight assists on the year. In recent matches, the senior has been the engine driving the Rebel offense forward. Stackpole has registered an assist on each of Ole Miss' last seven goals, including all four at South Alabama.
AIR RAID OFFENSE
Taking full advantage of the height on the roster, Ole Miss has benefitted greatly from its aerial attack in 2021 with five headed goals, three off the dome of senior Molly Martin. Additionally, six of the Rebels' goals have come off of either a corner kick or a long throw-in.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Scoring four times on the season, Channing Foster has been up to her old tricks. The four tallies has brought the senior's career total to 39, moving into soul possession of fourth most in program-history, nine behind all-time leader CeCe Kizer. Averaging nearly a goal per game in 2021, Foster is tied for eighth in the SEC.
RUN IT BACK
Coming off of arguably the best season in program history, Ole Miss is reloaded for the 2021 season, bringing back virtually the entire roster from a season ago. In fact, the Rebels return every single goal, assist and save from last season's team, including a veteran core of 13 upperclassmen. Going back even further, 50 of the 58 goals scored over the last two seasons were scored by a player returning to the Rebel roster. Bolstering the stacked lineup with 11 additional newcomers, the Rebs have plenty of weapons available to attack the new campaign.
AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE
After establishing herself with a solid first season in Red and Navy in 2019, Rebel goalkeeper Ashley Orkus grabbed the nation's attention in 2020 with one of the most decorated seasons in program history. The senior shot stopper has been recognized for her accomplishments with a selection to the TopDrawerSoccer Best XI First Team, garnering headlines as the premier goalkeeper in the country. This comes after making a Southeastern Conference high 85 saves with seven clean sheets a season ago, leading to a unanimous nod as the SEC Goalkeeper of the Year and a United Soccer Coaches Third Team All-America laurel, while also earning the Best XI First Team spot from TopDrawerSoccer to close out the season.
SWAN SONG
Coming back for one final college campaign in 2021, Channing Foster will look to accomplish something rarely possible, become a five-time All-SEC honoree. Ever since bursting onto the scene with 12 goals as a freshman in 2017, Foster has been lighting the scoreboard up for the Rebs, landing on the all-conference team every season, including back-to-back first team nods. The SEC's active leading scorer with 39 goals, the Murray, Kentucky, native is one of just two Rebels to earn all-league distinction four times in a career, joining all-time great Danielle Johnson. Despite her prolific career, Foster enters this season with the first preseason All-America recognition of her career, being selected to the Third Team by College Soccer News.
DYNAMIC DUO
For the second consecutive season, Channing Foster and Ashley Orkus have been named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. The trophy is the nation's highest individual honor recognizing the nation's National Player of the Year as determined by the voting of Division I coaches who are members of United Soccer Coaches. Foster and Orkus are two of six SEC players recognized on the watch list, joining Arkansas's Parker Goins and Anna Podojil and Texas A&M's Barbara Olivieri and Karlina Sample. The Rebel duo are also both among the top-100 players in the nation as ranked by TopDrawerSoccer. Orkus is the highest ranked goalkeeper in the land at No. 16, the third-highest ranked player in the SEC and climbing all the way from No. 63 in TDS's 2020 preseason rankings. Meanwhile, Foster comes in at No. 57, moving up from her place at No. 69 in the final rankings of the 2020 season.
HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Prior to October 31, 2020 no goalkeeper in the history of the Southeastern Conference had ever posted two assists in a single match. That changed during Ole Miss' 4-3 win over Georgia, with Ashley Orkus crossing the midfield stripe twice to serve in free kicks, both times combining with Molly Martin to result directly in Rebel goals. Orkus wasn't done there, the following week at Vanderbilt, Orkus again delivered a crucial assist from a free kick, teaming up with Martin once again to setup Channing Foster's golden goal in overtime. During conference play, the three assists were good for a tie, along with Martin, for fourth most in the SEC and 18th in the nation.
OLE MISS PICKED 6TH IN SEC PRESEASON POLL
Earlier in the week, The SEC announced the 2021 Preseason Coaches' Poll on Tuesday, with Ole Miss predicted to finish sixth in the league table as voted on by the conference's 14 head coaches.
Ole Miss moves up a couple of places over its prediction in the past two coaches' polls, having been selected eighth the last two seasons. The Rebels have finished higher in the league standings than the preseason prognostication in six of the last nine seasons.
KEEP AN EYE OUT
The Southeastern Conference also announced the 2021 Preseason Watch List on Tuesday, with Ole Miss being represented by Channing Foster, Molly Martin, Sydney Michalak, Ashley Orkus and Haleigh Stackpole, all of whom were also named to the 2020 edition of the watchlist.
Foster returns as the SEC's active leading scorer, while Martin provides an arial threat as well as serving as a key cog in the spine of the Rebel formation. One of the quickest players in the conference, Michalak helped Ole Miss lock down seven clean sheets at outside back, playing in front of the SEC's Goalkeeper of the Year in Orkus. Entering her fourth season, Stackpole is a true box-to-box player and arguably the Rebels' top playmaker, ranking third in the conference with eight assists and adding in four goals of her own.
DRAFT DAY DELIGHT
For the second time in three years, an Ole Miss Rebel heard her name called during the National Women's Soccer League College Draft, with senior Channing Foster being selected with the 32nd overall pick by the Chicago Red Stars, while still retaining her eligibility to suit up for the Rebels this season. The Murray, Kentucky, native is a familiar face to the Red Stars organization, having played for the club's Women's Premier Soccer League affiliate, helping lead the Chicago Red Stars Reserves to a WPSL Central Region Championship. The Reds Stars have also been on the wrong end of the senior's lethal left foot, with Foster scoring a stoppage time winner for the U-23 USWNT over Chicago in the 2019 Thorns Spring Invitational.
ROOKIE REPORT
The Rebel coaching staff scoured the entirety of the south to bring in some of the nation's top talent for the 2021 roster, plucking seven rookies from six different states. Adding to an Ole Miss roster that features standout performers from all around the country, Mott and his staff dipped into the talent pool in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee to continue to build the roster's depth. Mott signed defender Kaitlin Maynard, a pair of midfielders in Ellie McIntyre and Lauren Montgomery and a trio of forwards, Amber Fortenberry, Maddie Bishop and Whitaker Buchanan. He also went out and added Canadian goalkeeper Alyssa Zalac to the signing class in late January and defender Lily Logan in April.
Rounding out the 2021 class is Shea O'Malley from Cary, North Carolina. O'Malley was ranked as the No. 25 recruit in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer and was called up to the United States U17 Women's National Team. O'Malley graduated high school early and arrived on campus early to train with the Rebels during the spring.
HITTING THE PORTAL
In addition to the crop of nine freshmen added for the new season, Ole Miss also added depth to its veteran lineup with a pair of transfers in Sydney Ash of Virginia Tech and Stella Downing of Memphis.
Ash spent two seasons in Blacksburg before joining Ole Miss and training with the Rebels in the spring of 2021. In her time at Virginia Tech, the junior defender played in 13 matches with eight starts across the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The Leesburg, Virginia, native made seven starts for VT during the fall of 2020, helping the Hokies to a pair of clean sheets and recording her first career assist against Miami. Unfortunately, Ash will spend the 2021 season on the sideline after suffering a season-ending injury in preseason training.
The Rebels have also added a player they got to see up close in personal a season ago in Memphis' Stella Downing. A lightning quick attacker out of Vancouver, Canada, Downing played in all 12 matches for the Tigers last season, tallying a pair of assists. One of those helpers came against Ole Miss, setting up Memphis' lone goal in the 3-1 Rebel win. At the international level, Downing earned a bronze medal in the 2018 CONCACAF U17 Women's Championship, earning her first cap for Team Canada against the USA.
GAS IN THE TANK
Over her first three seasons as a Rebel, junior Haleigh Stackpole has proven to have deep reserves when it comes to energy. The Fort Bragg, North Carolina, native has been a fixture in the Ole Miss lineup ever since stepping foot on campus, starting all 63 matches of her collegiate career. Even more impressive, the box-to-box midfielder has hardly ever come off the field despite easily pacing the Rebels in distance ran every match, typically 9-10 miles. After ranking second on the team as a freshman at just over 84 minutes per match, Stackpole was subbed for just three total minutes in 2019, logging 1,899 minutes over 20 matches, and was one of just three players to be on the pitch for every second last season.
FOLLOW THE REBS!
Fans can keep up with all the goings on around the Ole Miss soccer program by following the Rebels on the team's various social media platforms. You can find the Rebs on Twitter at @OleMissSoccer, on Instagram at @OfficialOleMissSoccer or on Facebook by search "Ole Miss Soccer". Fans can also now follow Ole Miss on TikTok at @OleMissWSoccer.
