Aug. 8, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. – It’s been a busy first week of preseason practice for the Ole Miss soccer team between reporting to campus, two-a-day practices, team building exercises, team photos and scrimmages.

With that in mind, the Rebels took Wednesday off from the pitch and spent time continuing with team building activities before beginning the second week of preseason workouts on Thursday. The squad displayed a bit of their artistic side on Wednesday, taking time off to do canvas painting as a team.

But don’t let the day of fun and laughs fool you, the Rebels have been working hard toward the season opener on August 17 when Ole Miss will host Saint Louis at 7 p.m. at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium.

“It’s been a really good week,” said Ole Miss head coach Matt Mott. “They’ve worked extremely hard in all of our practices as we went through two-a-days. They have come out with a high level of intensity in training. We’ve gotten a lot done in a really short amount of time.”

The Rebels have worked on small group defending and focused on the back four players in the defense as Ole Miss looks to replace several graduated players in that part of the field. Mott and staff have also focused on implementing the game plan for the offense over the last week as players have begun to battle for spots in the starting lineup.

“We’ve spent some time in our attack and the structure of our attack,” Mott said. “Players have really started battling for playing time and starting spots. It’s been a great competition through this first week.”

One of the main goals for the early portion of the preseason has been to bring the new members of the team together with the veteran players and gel as a single unit. That melding into a single unit has pleased the coaching staff so far this season.

“The girls really seem to like each other and we’ll do some more team building exercises over the next few days,” Mott said. “It’s been good with a lot of healthy competition. We’re really coming together as a team.

“Right now we’re still working on our system and the continuity between all three lines – the backs, the midfielders and the forwards – and trying to get them playing together,” Mott said. “We are also figuring out who is our top 11 and who will start at each position. I think we’re close, but that’s still something we have to figure out.”

To that end, the Rebels will hold a scrimmage on Friday, August 10 at 8 p.m. at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium. The scrimmage is open to the public and is free of charge as fans are invited to come out and get a glimpse of the 2012 Rebels prior to the start of the season.