Oct. 19, 2012

Box Score Photo Gallery

OXFORD, Miss. – Mandy McCalla scored a pair of goals early to give the Rebels a two-goal lead, but a furious second half rally from the Tigers and an overtime goal were trouble as Ole Miss (12-6, 5-6 SEC) fell to LSU (7-7-4, 3-6-2 SEC) by a score of 3-2 on Friday night.

LSU converted the golden goal to cap the rally in the 93rd minute when the Rebels were called for a foul on Megan Kinneman in the box setting up a penalty kick. The Tiger goalkeeper lined up the shot and converted it to give LSU the win in the overtime period.

It was the first overtime game of the season for the Rebels, who saw a promising early lead disappear quickly in the second period.

“This is a tough one and it stings a bit,” said Ole Miss head coach Matthew Mott. “We had two good goals in the first half, but they made great adjustments for the second half. They knocked us back on our feet a little bit and we weren’t able to convert before they got the second goal.

“We had everything to play for tonight and didn’t take care of the business we needed to tonight,” Mott said.

McCalla, who now has a Southeastern Conference leading 12 goals, got the Rebels on the board early with her first goal of the night in the 11th minute. The junior took a pass from Rafaelle Souza at the top of the 18-yard box and beat a defender one-on-one to convert her first shot as she drilled it past the LSU goalkeeper.

The Rebels added to the lead 10 minutes later when McCalla again converted a goal. The junior took a pass inside the six-yard box on the far side as freshman Sara Coleman sent the ball in from the near side. McCalla then buried the shot to give Ole Miss the 2-0 lead heading into halftime.

LSU answered in the second period, coming out firing after Ole Miss out-shot the Tigers 7-to-1 in the first half.

Alex Arlitt scored the first goal of the night in the 52nd minute, taking the ball in at the top of the box in the middle of the field and lining up her shot on goal to cut the lead in half. LSU scored again a few minutes later when Danielle Murphy scored in the 59th minute off a cross from Arlitt on the near side and tied the game at two.

The defenses for the two teams held from there as Ole Miss pressured the Tigers but was unable to convert a goal down the stretch, sending the game into overtime.

LSU then got the penalty kick opportunity in the third minute of the overtime period and converted to take the win.

Ole Miss out-shot the Tigers 17-to-5 for the game.

The Rebels will return to action on Sunday in the home finale of the regular season at 1 p.m. when Ole Miss takes on the Tennessee Lady Vols. The match will be televised by SportSouth.