Ole Miss soccer looking for a win at LSU to clinch SEC Tournament berth
What once probably felt like a formality and forgone conclusion a month ago is not on the brink of uncertainty for the Ole Miss soccer team.
Since the start of Southeastern Conference play Ole Miss has lived on two extreme ends of the spectrum. In late September the Rebels (9-5-3, 3-5-1 SEC) won their first three SEC matches, starting off conference play 3-0 for the first time in school history.
Then another historic thing happened to Ole Miss. The team proceeded to lost its next five matches, something the program had never done until this season.
A draw against Arkansas last Sunday stopped the bleeding, a little bit.
“Kind of a crazy year, it’s been up and down but our team has stayed in it and I think a lot of it is our leadership with Mo O’Connor and our leadership committee,” said Ole Miss head coach Matt Mott. “Mo O’Connor has been an unbelievable captain, keeping the team in it and I think we have players that care and they want to win and they want to be successful and they are trying like crazy.
“Bad bounce against Mississippi State and we lose 1-0, bad bounce against Georgia we lose 1-0. We haven’t gotten that bounce yet, bounces got to come our way at some point, we’re working too hard for it not to.”
Now Ole Miss hits the road on Thursday to close out the season at LSU in need of a win.
Due to the five-game skid Ole Miss now finds itself ninth in the SEC standings ahead of Texas A&M, Missouri and Auburn. A win secures a spot in the SEC Tournament and sends the Rebels to Pensacola, Fla. next week. A draw means they will have to wait and see how Missouri and Auburn fair in their matches on Thursday.
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A loss could put Ole Miss but it would mean a lot of tiebreaker scenarios went against them.
One reason the Rebels find themselves in this position is due to the lack of offense in the second half of the season. Over the last six matches they have scored just two goals and four of the five losses were by a one-goal margin.
Sunday’s draw with the Razaorbacks was a 0-0 score but it might have provided some confidence that had been lacking within the team this month.
“Yeah massive. I think it showed our team we can compete with anybody,” Mott said of the draw. “(Arkansas is) a top-10 team for a reason. They are having a really good season and it shows us we are at that level, we just got to come out and play at that level quite honestly. Defensively, we’re there we just got to find some goals.”
Ole Miss and LSU kickoff at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday in Baton Rouge. The game can be seen on SEC Network+.
