Sept. 20, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. – Fresh off a split in the opening weekend of Southeastern Conference play, the Ole Miss soccer team now heads on the road for back-to-back weekends, beginning with a pair of matches at No. 16 Missouri and Alabama this weekend.

Ole Miss (8-1, 1-1 SEC) will take on the 16th-ranked Tigers (7-1, 2-0 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night before taking on the Alabama Crimson Tide (5-2-1, 0-1-1 SEC) at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

“These are two very good teams,” said Ole Miss head coach Matthew Mott. “Missouri is playing great. They had a two-win weekend where they beat Auburn and South Carolina on the road. They’re playing very well. They have a high octane offense with very good athletes and we need to be ready for it. We turn around and go to Alabama on Sunday who also is a very good team.

“It’s a grind now,” Mott said. “Everybody is pretty even. It’s going to be pretty tough for the next 11 games.”

The Rebels put a balanced attack on the field led by juniors Mandy McCalla and Rafaelle Souza. The duo is tied for the lead league in both goals and points. Both have scored nine goals and notched 21 points this season. McCalla and Souza both scored two goals each in this past weekend’s win over Arkansas that set the school record for consecutive wins to start a season at eight.

Ole Miss’ back line has also played well, allowing only eight goals this season and helping post four shutouts earlier this season, resulting in sophomore goalkeeper Kelly McCormick being named SEC Defensive Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks.

Missouri enters the weekend ranked No. 16 in the nation and posted road wins over Auburn and South Carolina this past week. The Tigers have seen eight different players score goals this season and are led by Taiwo Adeshigbin with four goals on the season. Haley Krentz has been the primary ball distributor with a team-leading five assists this season.

The Tigers have posted four shutouts this year and have been shutout only once, at Ohio State.

Alabama enters the weekend after posting five straight wins to open the season before dropping a pair of matches and tying LSU this past weekend. The Crimson Tide host Georgia on Friday night before the Sunday match against the Rebels.

Katie Bourgeois leads Alabama with six goals on the season, while two other Crimson Tide players have notched four goals each. Ariel Armijo and Meghan Duffy both lead the team with four assists each.