Orkus and O’Connor Named to United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Team

United Soccer Coaches announced the 2022 All-Region Teams Tuesday and both Ashley Orkus and Mo O’Connor were named to the All-Southeast Team. The reigning SEC Goalkeeper of the Year Orkus was named to the Second Team while O’Connor was named to the Third Team.

This is the third career All-Southeast Region honor for Orkus who was named to the First Team in 2021 and 2020. For O’Connor, this is the first All-Region honor of her career.

Orkus continued her incredible tenure between the posts for the Rebels in 2022 by becoming the all-time leader in career saves and shutouts. She set the new all-time saves mark on October 9 against Texas A&M with her 298th save. In that same game she also became the first Rebel goalkeeper ever to reach the 300 career saves mark and reached 318 total saves before the end of the season.

The only three-time SEC Goalkeeper of the Year became the Rebels’ all-time shutouts leader on September 1 against Louisiana Tech with her 23rd clean sheet and finished her career with 29 total shutouts to her name. She also finished second all-time in career goalkeeper wins with 41, just one behind former Rebel Kelly McCormick.

This season, Orkus set career-bests in shutouts, goals against average, and goals allowed. The senior from Alabama allowed just 19 goals on the season, giving her a GAA of 0.94 through 20 matches. She posted 10 clean sheets, including a streak of five-straight to open the season and three in SEC play. Her 67 saves are fourth-best in the SEC and her 10 shutouts are third-most in the conference.

O’Connor put together another great season at the front of the Rebel attack in 2022. She scored six goals, one shy of her career-high, and put up four assists, tying her career-high. The senior also has three game-winning goals this season, securing victories in wins over Louisiana Tech, UCF, and Florida.

O’Connor’s biggest offensive outing came in the season-opener against Southeastern Louisiana as she assisted on two goals before scoring one of her own in the 58^th minute. Her four points in that match were a career-high and the second-largest total by a Rebel in a game this season. Arguably her biggest goal of the season so far came against Florida, as she scored the lone goal of the match in the 52^nd minute to lock down a second-consecutive SEC victory for Ole Miss.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports