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Gator soccer moves on with their SEC play on Thursday as they travel up to Oxford, Mississippi, to take on the No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels.
https://twitter.com/GatorsSoccer/status/1572004358820069377
In series history, Florida has won 21 times out of the 26 times the teams have met up. In the last three years though, they played twice and Mississippi won both games. The last time they faced off on the pitch was last October when Mississippi scored one goal and kept the Gators from scoring.
A Look at the Rebels
The Rebels went 12-6-3 in 2021 and made it all the way to the SEC championship and lost to Tennessee. Mississippi received a bid to the NCAA Tournament but was booted out in the first round by Saint Louis University, 2-1.
At the moment, the team currently holds a 7-0-2 record and only played one ranked team so far, No. 22 Memphis. In the game against Memphis, the Rebels posted a 3-0 shutout to take the win.
Just like the Gators, Mississippi started SEC play on September 16 and took on the Kentucky Wildcats. The Wildcats put up a good fight, but could not complete a win and gave the Rebels their seventh win. Stand-out players for the Rebels during the match were Ashley Okurs and Kayla Chatman-Haggerty with a goal, Mo O’Connor took four shots and Marykate McGuire took two shots one of them being a shot on goal. Okurs is the Rebel’s goalkeeper and she took a free kick for midfield and made the goal.
https://twitter.com/OleMissSoccer/status/1571954778825162753?s=20&t=yEu2wWATrJU0wT8wFkSj3Q
Overall since the beginning of the season, the Rebels have allowed only three goals and scored 23. They also average 15.3 shots per game, while Florida averages 13.8 shots per game.
Looking at Gator Soccer
The Gators look to improve on what they learned in the game against Tennessee and use that in the game against the Rebels.
In the game against the Volunteers, key players for Florida were Maddy Pirrello, Oakley Rasmussen, Julianne Leskauskas and Erica Roberts. Pirrello scored the Gators’ only goal that game in her first career start. Rasmussen assisted in Pirello’s goal and also took two shots on goal. Leskauskas tried to score multiple times throughout, but the Volunteers stopped her. She took two shots on goal. Roberts had two shots throughout the game.
“We are going to continue worrying about us, focus on the standards we’ve set as a program within the game and just make sure executing those at the highest level,” head coach Samantha Bohon said.
The game will start at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.
