Ole Miss fought Mississippi State in the battle for bragging rights in the state on Sunday night, coming out on top with a final score of 2-0 in the Magnolia Cup. Rebel soccer came into this game on the back of a convincing 2-0 win against Kentucky on Thursday. With the win against Mississippi State, the Rebels are now 5-3-1 in SEC play and 11-6-1 overall.
Ole Miss started the game slowly, giving up four shots to the Bulldogs in the first 10 minutes. Morgan McAslan made two saves in the opening 25 minutes and four in the first half to keep the game scoreless. Ole Miss had three shots to State’s six in the opening half of play. The last shot from the Bulldogs forced a jumping effort from McAslan to keep the ball from the upper corner and the game level at 0-0.
The opening 10 minutes of the second half featured slow paced, back and forth play, but only had one shot and one save. In the 63rd minute, Ole Miss had a shot on net from a header following a freekick.
CeCe Kizer got the game rolling with a 67th-minute goal from a counter attack. Sophie Dineen played her through and Kizer used her pace to beat the defenders, and slotted the ball into the side netting to give Ole Miss a 1-0 lead. It was Kizer’s 13th goal of the season, which leads the Rebels.
“We came into the second half with the mentality that we needed to put one away, and we knew offensively we could really attack them … and we just didn’t stop,” Kizer said.
Gabby Little would make it a two-goal lead for the Rebels in the 70th minute from an assist by Lonnie Mulligan. Little lofted the ball over State’s keeper who got a finger to it, but the shot still went in after deflecting off the post. It was Little’s second goal of the season.
“I backed off the defender and gave myself space, and then it was such a great ball from Lonnie, I was just in the right place, and I’m glad I was,” Little said.
McAslan made an additional four saves in the second half to preserve her second career clean sheet. The final shot totals for both teams were 10 shots for Ole Miss and 18 shots for Mississippi State. Coach Matt Mott was proud of his goalkeeper’s second straight clean sheet.
“She handled herself very well and did everything that was asked of her,” Mott said.
Ole Miss will play regular-season SEC champions Vanderbilt on Thursday in the team’s Senior Night contest. Mott said he expects a good, competitive matchup against the Commodores.
“It’s going to be a tough game against a really good team, but we’ll be ready for them,” Mott said, “We look forward to Thursday playing a good-dangerous team.”
