Soccer Hosts No. 9 Arkansas for Senior Day

			OLE MISS (9-5-2, 3-5-0 SEC) vs. No. 9 Arkansas (10-3-2, 5-2-1 SEC) Sunday, Oct. 23 • 1:00 p.m. CT • Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Soccer Stadium
WATCH • LIVE STATS OLE MISS NOTES (PDF) • ARKANSAS NOTES (PDF) • SEC NOTES (PDF)

QUICK KICKS
• Ole Miss soccer dropped another close match Thursday night against Georgia 0-1 in Athens. The Rebels have now lost five matches in a row.
• The Rebels' five-game losing streak is the longest losing streak in the history of the program and the longest winless streak since 2017
• The Rebels will host No. 9 Arkansas (10-3-2) Sunday afternoon for their final home match of the 2022 season. Sydney Michalak, Ashley Orkus, and Molly Thompson will all be honored as a part of a Senior Day celebration prior to kickoff.
• Ole Miss leads the all-time series against Arkansas 17-11-2 but have lost the last five matchups. Their last win over the Razorbacks came on October 7, 2018, by a score of 3-1.
• Taylor Radecki's eight assists are a new career-high and has her tied for 12th in the nation. Radecki's 0.50 assists per game is top-20 in the nation.
• Ashley Orkus became the Ole Miss all-time saves leader on October 9 against Texas A&M with her 298th save. In that same game she also became the first Rebel goalkeeper to reach the 300 career saves mark. Orkus also became the all-time shutouts leader on September 1 against Louisiana Tech with her 23rd clean sheet.
• Mo O'Connor has scored six goals this season and is second on the team in total points with 16. She has scored 19 career goals with 10 of them coming in SEC play.
• The Rebels have scored 10 of their 27 goals in the first 20 minutes of the game this season.

SCOUTING ARKANSAS
The Razorbacks played LSU to a scoreless draw Thursday night as graduate goalkeeper Grace Barbara put up her ninth shutout of the season. She is one of three SEC goalkeepers with nine shutouts in 2022, the others being Maddy Anderson of Mississippi State and Heather Hinz of South Carolina.

Arkansas came into the week ranked No. 9 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and No. 13 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com poll. They have won five of their last seven matches but are 0-1-1 in their last two. Before a loss to Alabama on October 16, the Razorbacks hadn't allowed a goal in five-straight matches and they have only allowed four totals goals during SEC play.

Junior Ava Tankersley leads the team in points and is ranked fifth in the SEC in both total points and points per game. She has 20 points through 15 games thanks to 10 assists and five goals on the season. Senior Anna Podojil leads the team with six goals on the season.

Two-time SEC Coach of the Year Colby Hale is in his 11^th season leading the Razorbacks.

SERIES HISTORY
Ole Miss leads the all-time series against Arkansas 17-11-2 but have lost the last five matchups, scoring just two goals during that stretch. Their last win over the Razorbacks came on October 7, 2018, by a score of 3-1. Head coach Matt Mott is 5-8-2 in his career against Arkansas.

PREVIOUS MATCH (9/26/21)
Ole Miss held a 1-0 lead at halftime of their last matchup with the Razorbacks but would end up losing 4-1.
Ole Miss (7-2-2, 2-1-0 SEC) came out with high energy right from the opening whistle and 11 minutes in, the effort paid off through Mo O'Connor's second goal in as many matches. After Molly Martin's shot off a corner was blocked, Taylor Radecki found O'Connor and the Oxford native turned on her heels and fired away, ricocheting her shot off of Arkansas keeper Hannah Warner and into the back of the net.

The Rebels nearly doubled the advantage in the 17^th minute, when Martin fed a ball across the face of the goal to Jenna Kemp, who attempted to squeeze the ball in at the near post. Instead, the Razorback defense recovered to block the attempt and thwart the goal scoring chance.

After that, the home side began to turn up the heat. The Razorbacks used their speed up front to put pressure on the back line, but the Rebel defense and Ashley Orkus stood tall. Orkus was called upon seven times in the opening half, none bigger than robbing Sophia Aragon's 1-on-1 shot from less than 10 yards out.

Ole Miss was able to withstand the pressure, carrying it's 1-0 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.

That changed shortly after play was resumed, as Arkansas's Taylor Malham cleaned up a pinballing ball in the box for the equalizer in the 48^th minute. Then, in the 62^nd minute, Anna Podojil finished off a Razorback counterattack, giving the home team a 2-1 lead.

After Madisyn Pezzino's effort to equalize from distance in the 72^nd minute went narrowly wide, the Razorbacks added goals from Ava Tankersley in the 74^th minute and Podojil in the 84^th minute to wrap up the win.

SENIOR CELEBRATION
Prior to Sunday afternoon's kickoff, three Rebel seniors will be honored as a part of Ole Miss' Senior Day celebration: Sydney Michalak, Ashley Orkus, and Molly Thompson.

Michalak has made an impact on both offense and defense in six seasons as a Rebel. After starting her career at forward, she switched to the backline her sophomore season, and became a staple of the Ole Miss defense. She has helped the Rebels secure 27 clean sheets during her career and scored 2 goals along with 3 assists. Michalak was named to the SEC Preseason Watch List in each of the last three seasons and earned a TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week honor earlier this season. Michalak graduated in the spring of 2021 with a Bachelor's in dietetics and nutrition and will graduate with her Master's in Food and Nutrition Services this spring.

Orkus will go down in history as possibly the most-decorated Rebel of all time. The two-time SEC Goalkeeper of the Year and All-SEC First Team honoree is Ole Miss' all-time leader in saves with 307 and shutouts with 27. Orkus is also second all-time in keeper wins with 41 and became the first Rebel to earn United Soccer Coaches First Team All-American recognition in 2021. She has a career save percentage of .780 and a goals against average of 1.11 which would be fifth in program history. Orkus graduated with a degree in accounting in December of 2020 and at the end of the semester will have her Master's certificate in Intercollegiate Athletic Administration.

Thompson transferred to Ole Miss after spending her first four years at LSU. Thompson appeared in 15 matches as a forward for the Rebels this season and made her presence known early. She was responsible for getting the scoring started in the Rebels' big win over then-ranked No. 22 Memphis. Thompson is studying biochemistry with plans to either start graduate school or work in medical sales.

BREAKING RECORDS
Ole Miss and goalkeeper Ashley Orkus have set multiple program records this season. Ole Miss' 9-0-2 start to the season was the best start through 11 games by win percentage in school history. Their 3-0 start in SEC play was their best start in-conference in program history.

Orkus became the Ole Miss all-time saves leader on October 9 against Texas A&M with her 298th save. In that same game she also became the first Rebel goalkeeper to reach the 300 career saves mark and has 307 saves to date. She also became the all-time shutouts leader on September 1 against Louisiana Tech with her 23rd clean sheet and sits at 26 for her career.

Orkus' next milestone will be the all-time goalkeeper wins mark as she currently sits second all-time with 41 wins and needs two more to take over the top spot.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Ole Miss women's soccer is a win away from their fifth straight season with double-digit wins. It would mark the ninth season with 10-plus wins over their last 11 seasons, missing it by one win in 2016.

POWERFUL PAIR
Ole Miss forwards Mo O'Connor and Marykate McGuire have been tough for opposing defenses to stop this season. McGuire leads the team with seven goals and O'Connor has six.

It's the second consecutive year and 12th in the last 14 seasons, the Rebels have two players with six or more goals. The only other SEC team with multiple 6-plus goal scorers is Alabama.

SHOOT AROUND
The Rebels are 7-1-1 when taking more shots than their opponents and 4-0-1 with more shots on goal. Ole Miss is also undefeated when taking more than ten shots in a single game.

STARTING OFF RIGHT
Out of the Rebels 27 goals this season, 10 goals have been scored in the first 20 minutes of the match. Ole Miss' quickest goal of the season came off the foot of keeper Ashley Orkus. She scored the first goal of a 2-1 win over Kentucky with just 1:25 off the clock.

TRANSFER SUCCESS
The Rebels signed six transfers during the offseason, which is the second most in the SEC. Four have become starters for Ole Miss, which is second-most in the SEC and tied for fourth in the nation. Marykate McGuire leads the way with seven goals along with four assists.

SYD VICIOUS
Picking a ball off near midfield, 6th-year senior defender Sydney Michalak made a dazzling run before firing into the back of the net for Ole Miss' second goal against Memphis. It was Michalak's first goal since her collegiate debut in 2018, still playing as a forward at that time. The Rebel left back also helped Ole Miss lock up a pair of clean sheets during the week. For her efforts, Michalak was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week.

GETTING DUSTY IN HERE
While the first goal of any season is a special one, the Rebels' opening tally of the 2022 season came with a little extra meaning. Fourteen minutes into the match, redshirt-freshman Lauren Montgomery cleaned up a Mo O'Connor rebound and slid the ball under the keeper for her first collegiate goal, coming just over a year after tearing her ACL during the 2021 preseason and missing her true freshman campaign.

IT JUST MEANS MO'
When the lights shine brightest, Rebel striker Mo O'Connor steps her game up to another level. Of O'Connor's 19 career goals, 10 have come against conference opposition, including five of seven goals in 2021. O'Connor's five goals in league play last season were tied for the most in the conference.

BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK
In his 13th season at the helm of the Ole Miss program, Matt Mott is the fourth-longest tenured head coach in the SEC. Mott is also the third-longest tenured head coach active at Ole Miss.

SEC's Longest Tenured Head Coaches
1. G Guerreiri (Texas A&M) - 29 seasons
2. Karen Hoppa (Auburn) - 24 seasons
3. Shelley Smith (South Carolina) - 22 seasons
4. Matt Mott (Ole Miss) - 13 seasons
5. Colby Hale (Arkansas) - 11 seasons

BIG SHOES TO FILL
With the departure of star players like Channing Foster, Haleigh Stackpole and Molly Martin, Ole Miss will have plenty of firepower to replace in 2022. Foster finished her career with 44 goals, tied for the second most in program history, while Stackpole's 31 career assists rank third all-time at Ole Miss, including 16 assists in 2021 alone. Meanwhile, Martin and her aerial threat led the Rebels with 10 goals a season ago. Overall, Ole Miss will need to replace 25-of-36 goals (69.4%), 23-of-44 assists (52.3%) and 73-of-116 points (62.9%) from the 2021 season.

DANCING QUEENS
Ole Miss is one of five SEC teams to receive a bid to the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament in at least five of the last seven seasons (Arkansas, Auburn, South Carolina, Texas A&M). They are also one of five SEC teams to make four of the last five NCAA Tournaments.

POLL POSITION
For the second consecutive year, Ole Miss was ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, coming in at No. 18. The Rebels were slotted at No. 23 in the 2021 preseason poll. Prior to last season, Ole Miss had never been ranked in the preseason by the United Soccer Coaches. The Rebels are one of four SEC teams ranked in the 2022 iteration of the poll, joining Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina.

BEST OF THE BEST
Ole Miss keeper Ashley Orkus was named to the 2022 TopDrawerSoccer.com Preseason Best XI First Team. It is the second consecutive year that the two-time defending SEC Goalkeeper of the Year has been named to the first team. Orkus has also received postseason Best XI honors from TopDrawerSoccer the last two seasons, earning a first team nod in 2020 and landing on the third team in 2021.

Orkus was also selected to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List for the third consecutive year. The senior was the only goalkeeper among the group of 15 players named a semifinalist for the 2021 edition of college soccer's top individual honor.

FOLLOW THE REBS
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.

RebelsCalendar

Next Event

The University of Mississippi Athletics

Soccer Hosts No. 9 Arkansas for Senior Day

Next Event

Related Videos