It was a foggy Friday night at Ole Miss Soccer Stadium as the Rebels dominated the Jackson State Tigers 9-0 to advance to the second round. It was the first time in school history that the program has hosted an NCAA Tournament match.
Right out of the gate the Rebels imposed their will on the Tigers with an unassisted score for Bethany Bunker just 2:16 into the match. The Rebels scored at will for pretty much the entire night. It was an all around team effort to win in blowout fashion but the Rebels were led by Rafaelle Souza.
Souza was electric all night and couldn’t seem to miss any time she took a shot. She ended the night scoring three of the Rebels nine goals. While the offense did put on a clinic on Friday night, it was the defense that gave Jackson State no chance in this game.
For a good majority of the game, Ole Miss was in control of the ball, shooting 24 times on the night. The most staggering stat of the night wasn’t that Jackson State didn’t score. It’s that they never even had an attempted shot. They were smothered from start to finish all night long.
There were multiple records set on Friday night for the Ole Miss program. First, Rafaelle Souza became the all-time leading scorer at Ole Miss with 44 goals and this win sets a new Ole Miss record for most wins by the women’s soccer program in school history with a 16-5-2 record.
Ole Miss Head Coach Matt Mott talked about how proud he was with the team’s effort and felt that the Rebels played a complete game.
You can watch the post-game interviews with Coach Mott, Rafaelle Souza and Erin Emerson below.
The victory also means that the Rebels now have a date with the number one seed in their bracket, Florida State. Ole Miss will travel to Tallahassee to take on the Seminoles next Thursday night.
–Justin Taylor, Associate Editor, HottyToddy.com
–You can email Justin at justin.taylor@hottytoddy.com
