Aug. 29, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. – Fresh off a pair of shutout wins in week two of competition, the Ole Miss soccer team continues its six-match home stand this weekend with a pair of matches against UALR and Texas Tech at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium.

Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m. with the Rebels facing the Trojans of UALR on Friday night and the Red Raiders of Texas Tech on Sunday evening. Admission to all matches is free to the public. Fans can enter to win a free HDTV at Friday night’s contest against the Trojans.

The weekend presents two foes with a contrast in positions entering the match. UALR comes into the Friday night match looking to pick up its first win of the season, while Texas Tech is undefeated like the Rebels and will host Nevada on Friday night. Through four matches, the Red Raiders have posted three shutouts and allowed only one goal scored in the season opener.

The Rebels are off to a quick start to the season, posting a 4-0 record through the first two weeks of competition and notching shutouts in back-to-back matches by blanking Troy and Louisiana-Lafayette this past week. The shutout victories earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors for sophomore goalkeeper Kelly McCormick who has turned in a solid early season performance with only two goals allowed to date.

That quick start will face a challenge this weekend if the Rebels hope to continue the undefeated start through the third weekend of play.

“We have two very good matches coming up this weekend with UALR coming out of the Sunbelt Conference,” said Ole Miss head coach Matthew Mott. “They had a good season last year and will be very well coached. Texas Tech is undefeated coming into the weekend and playing well. They are certainly an NCAA Tournament caliber team. It will be a difficult test for us. We’ll need to be prepared and firing on all cylinders to get the result we want against Texas Tech.”

The Rebel offense has been balanced and productive this season with 12 different players notching points on the year and six different players scoring a goal through the first four matches. Juniors Rafaelle Souza and Mandy McCalla lead the way with four and three goals, respectively. Souza leads the league in goals while the junior duo tops the league in shots, goals and points so far this season.

The Ole Miss back line, anchored by McCormick in goal, has helped the Rebels to the fast start. With three freshmen starting regularly on the back line – and 12 newcomers on the squad as a whole – the preseason goal of meshing as a cohesive unit has been evident from match to match.

Through four matches this season, the Rebels have allowed only 31 shots this season and only 14 of those shots have been on goal.

Fans of Ole Miss and soccer can keep up with all of the action by following the Rebels at OleMissSports.com or on Twitter @OleMissSoccer. Fans can also like the Rebels on Facebook at by searching for Ole Miss Soccer. Sunday’s match against Texas Tech will be broadcast live on Rebelvision.