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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
WKU
No. 9 Soccer Return Home to Face Western Kentucky
9/7/2022 | Soccer
Rebels and Lady Toppers Kickoff at 6 p.m. on Thursday
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NO. 9 OLE MISS (5-0-1, 0-0-0 SEC) vs. Western Kentucky (2-2-2, 0-0-0 C-USA) Thursday, Sept. 8 • 6 p.m. CT • Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Soccer Stadium  |
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| WATCH • LIVE STATS OLE MISS NOTES (PDF) • SEC NOTES (PDF) |
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QUICK KICKS
• Ole Miss remain undefeated after a pair of wins last week, shutting out LA Tech, 5-0, and defeating UCF on the road, 2-1
• The Rebels host two games at home this week to finish non-conference play. Ole Miss plays Western Kentucky on Thursday and Southern Miss on Friday in Oxford.
• Ole Miss leads the all-time series against both Western Kentucky and Southern Miss. The Rebels are 3-1-1 against WKU and are undefeated with a 10-0 against Southern Miss.
• Taylor Radecki grabbed another assist in win over UCF, giving her seven on the season. Radecki matches her season total in assists from last season in six games.
• The Rebels 5-0-1 record (.967) is their best six game start to a season since 2017. That year Ole Miss also went 5-0-1 in the first six games and were 7-0-1 before suffering its first lose.
• Senior Ashley Orkus is one of five keepers with five clean sheets in 2022.
• At 3.17 goals per game, Ole Miss is the nation's 15th-ranked scoring offense. The Rebels also rank seventh in total points with 60
• Marykate McGuire ranks top-10 in total points with 12. Mcguire leads the Rebels with four goals along with four assists.
• The Rebels rank second behind only Colorado in total assists with 22 and third in the nation averaging 3.67 assists per game.
• Ole Miss is ranked 9th in the United Soccer Coaches Poll which marks the highest in program history. The team also moved up five spots to 14th on TopDrawerSoccer.com
SCOUTING WESTERN KENTUCKY
Jason Neidell, the only head coach in Western Kentucky women's soccer history, enters his 22nd season at the helm of WKU's soccer program. Neidell has guided the Lady Toppers program since its inception in 2001. He currently holds a 222-134-45 overall record and 18 winning seasons in 21 seasons. Last year, Western Kentucky finished second in the C-USA East with a 10-5-1 record.
The Lady Toppers are even with a 2-2-2 overall record, defeating Union (Tenn.) and Kentucky. WKU has struggled on the road going 0-2-1 and scoring just one goal.
Western Kentucky spread the love when it comes to scoring goals this season. Seven different players have scored, each with one goal scored. Defender Aspen Davis and forwards Kayla Meyer and Lily Rummo have a goal scored and an assist. The offense as a whole has a shot on goal percentage of 41.7%. The Lady Toppers outscore their opponents 4-1 in the first half, however in the second half they scored three goals and allowed three goals.
Redshirt fifth year senior Alexis Bach has played inall six games, accumulating 495 minutes played. Bach has allowed four goals and tallied two shutouts in both wins. She is tied the C-USA lead in save percentage at 72.7 % and shutouts.
SERIES HISTORY
Ole Miss leads the all-time series 3-1-1 over Western Kentucky. The two teams played in 2021 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ole Miss came away with the 1-0 victory, scoring the only goal in the first half. The Rebels have won the last 3 matches in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
PREVIOUS GAME (9/12/21)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Ole Miss (4-1-2) dominated the pace of play Sunday afternoon at WKU (5-1-0), handing the Hilltoppers their first loss of the season in a 1-0 win at the WKU Soccer Complex.
The Rebels were all over the Hilltoppers throughout the match, spending 74 percent of possession time in the attacking half of the field, outshooting the home side 12-3 in the affair.
Ole Miss put its foot on the gas right from the jump, dominating possession throughout the opening 45 minutes.
Channing Foster came close to getting the Rebels on the board early, flashing a header narrowly wide in the seventh minute. About 10 minutes later, Molly Martin also came close to opening scoring with her head, with her effort being tracked down by WKU keeper Alexis Bach.
After a Foster rocket was palmed away by Bach, Martin finally broke through a few minutes later in the 34th minute. Playing out on the wing, Haleigh Stackpole found Martin's feet at the top of the box and the senior took full advantage of the space that was given, picking out a corner and slotting it home.
The Rebels continued to pile on the pressure in the second half. While Ole Miss was unable to find a second to salt the game away, the constant action in the attacking third kept the Lady Hilltoppers from being able to create a threat as Rebel keeper Ashley Orkus secured her first clean sheet of the season.
MAKING HISTORY
In the last United Soccer Coaches Poll, the Rebels climbed up four spots into to the top-10. Ole Miss' No. 9 ranking secures the highest ranking in program history. The new ranking follows a pair of Ole Miss wins over LA Tech and a UCF team who are receiving votes. The team is also ranked 14th on TopDrawerSoccer.com and 10th on CollegeSoccerNews.com.
Ole Miss is having one of the program's best six-game starts with a 5-0-1 (.917). It's the best since 2017 and topped by a 6-0-0 record in 2002 and 2003.
FINISHING NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
Ole Miss' host Western Kentucky on Thursday and Southern Miss on Sunday for the final two games before SEC play. The Rebels are 3-0 in Oxford with wins over Southestern, Memphis and LA Tech.
The team starts conference games on the road against Kentucky.
THAT'S A FIRST
In the Rebels' 5-0 victory over LA Tech, Lucy Green and Alex Schoenstadt netted their first goals of their career. Green, the junior defender, found the ball through a crowd in the opponents' eighteen and found the bottom right corner of the net just past the keeper.
Schoenstadt went beyond her first goal but scored her first two career goals for her first brace for the freshman. Both her goals were in the final five minutes of the match. The first was a strike off a bouncing crosser from Amber Fortenberry and the second was a header inside the box.
GIVE ME A HAND
Ole Miss' 44 assists in 2021 were the program's fourth most in a season. The Rebels continue the trend this season with 202assists in just six games. The Rebels' 22 assists are the second most of any school in the nation only behind Colorado's 24 and on pace to break the most ever by an Ole Miss team in a season.
ALL 90 MINUTES
In the biggest games, Taylor Radecki and Price Loposer are leaned on heavily. Both Radecki and Loposer played all 90 minutes in the wins over No. 22 Memphis and UCF who are receiving votes. Loposer missed just six minutes all of last season and Radecki missed 25 minutes
Ashley Orkus plays every second of every game. No other keeper has played a single second since 2018.
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 on Thursday 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 15 career goals, eight 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.
G.O.A.T.
Entering her fourth season between the posts for the Rebels, goalkeeper Ashley Orkus sits near the top in the Ole Miss record books in several statistical categories. Below is a breakdown of Orkus' approach of program-records:
GOALKEEPER SAVES
1. Kelly McCormick (2011-2014) - 297
2. Marnie Merritt (2014-18) 277
3. Ashley Orkus (2018-pres.) 270
4. Melinda Smith (1998-2001) 232
GOALKEEPER WINS
1. Kelly McCormick (2011-2014) - 42
2. Marnie Merritt (2014-18) - 40
3. Ashley Orkus (2018-pres.) - 37
4. Brittany Gillespie (2000-03) - 32
SHUTOUTS
1. Ashley Orkus (2018-pres.) - 23
Kelly McCormick (2011-2014) - 22
Brittany Gillespie (2000-03) - 22
4. Marnie Merritt (2014-18) - 21
5. Ann Shelton (2004-07) - 18
DANCING QUEENS
Ole Miss is one of five SEC teams to receive a bid at least five of the last seven seasons (Arkansas, Auburn, South Carolina, Texas A&M) and also one of five SEC teams to make four of the last five NCAA Tournaments.
POLL POSITION
For the second consecutive year, Ole Miss is 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!
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.
