Ole Miss soccer tops Texas A&M on Senior Night
Published 10:51 pm Friday, October 14, 2016
In a back-and-forth battle in the rain under the lights, it was Ole Miss who came from behind to top Texas A&M, 2-1, in the home finale and Senior Night on Friday.
The Rebels (9-7, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) got scores from junior Bella Fiorenzo and sophomore CeCe Kizer. Both goals were scored past the 75-minute mark to defeat the Aggies (7-7-1, 2-5-1) at home for the first time ever. With the win, Ole Miss gains another key three points in the SEC standings with just three regular season matches remaining.
Prior to the match, the Rebels honored their six players participating in Senior Night, including Madi Killeen, Sara Coleman, Mackenze Parma, Gretchen Harknett, Melissa Capocaccia and Addie Forbus.
Both sides were active early on in the match playing to a 0-0 draw after 45 minutes. The Rebels had four solid looks in the opening period, including one from Kizer at the top of the box in the 16th, a free kick from Fiorenzo in the 20th that was saved, and two more from Kizer and Harknett in the 27th, both of which were blocked.
Ole Miss goalkeeper Marnie Merritt was also busy on the night, making two huge saves within seconds in the 39th minute, making two goal-saving stops to keep the match scoreless heading into the break.
Texas A&M came out of the halftime break and went up early, 1-0, after Emily Bates got past the defense and scored 1-v-1 off of Merritt. That lead held for more than 20 minutes as time ticked off, but the Rebels didn’t go down without an inspiring fight.
In the 75th minute, Fiorenzo was awarded a free kick on the near side and scored from the left side of the penalty box tying it up 1-1 and turning the momentum in favor of the Rebels.
Just seven minutes later, Kizer found open space near the top of the box and launched in her fifth score of the year for the game-winner. From there, the Rebel backline did its job and secured the 2-1 victory, which marked the 75th of head coach Matt Mott’s coaching career.
Texas A&M finished the contest with 18 shots for seven on goal, while Ole Miss took nine with only three that weren’t on target. Kizer and Forbus both posted three shots for two on goal, while Fiorenzo was 2-for-2 in shots on target.
Merritt was solid in goal for the home team turning away six shots, while the Aggies’ Danielle Rice made four stops.
With the home slate in the books, Ole Miss will now face three straight on the road to cap the regular season, first up at Georgia on Thursday with kick set for 6 p.m. CT in Athens.