Ole Miss Soccer Closes Out Regular Season Thursday at LSU

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss soccer wraps up its regular season on the road Thursday against the LSU Tigers. The first kick is set for 6 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network+.

Ole Miss (9-5-3, 3-5-1 SEC) snapped a five-game losing streak Sunday afternoon with a 0-0 draw against No. 9 Arkansas. The result also broke a five-game losing streak in the all-time series against the Razorbacks and was the first time the Rebels had earned points against them since 2018.

“A very good Arkansas team, who’s always difficult to play against. We lost to them a number of times in a row,” head coach Matt Mott said. “We came out, worked hard, and pulled out a 0-0 draw, which got us another point, which kept us in ninth.”

The 0-0 draw against the No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks keeps the Rebels in ninth in the SEC and looking to go to the conference tournament. There are still two spots up for grabs in the SEC Soccer Tournament and if it were to start today the Rebels would be in. Ole Miss has 10 points in conference play and would be the ninth-seeded team in the tournament currently.

A win on Thursday would secure their spot in Pensacola. A loss or a draw would put their fate in the hands of the three other teams looking to grab those final spots (Texas A&M, Missouri, Auburn).

“Right now, we’re in ninth in the league, they take 10 teams to the beach,” Mott said. “So, we are trying to get to the conference tournament, which is at Pensacola this year. We have one game left at LSU and still looking for points. So, a win at LSU will lock ourselves into the conference tournament and I think it will be another good result for our resume as we try to get into the NCAA Tournament as well.”

LSU comes into the match with an 8-3-6 overall record and 3-2-4 mark in league action.

LSU opened SEC play by winning three of their first four matches, scoring nine goals in the process. Since that point, the Tigers have gone 0-1-4 and have not scored a goal since October 6 against Texas A&M.

Four different Tigers have scored four or more goals this season with freshman Ida Hermannsdottir leading the way with six on the year. Hermannsdottir is one of two outstanding freshmen for LSU with Angelina Thoreson being the other. Thoreson leads the team and is tied for sixth in the SEC with seven assists in her first collegiate season. Both Hermannsdottir and Thoreson were named to Top Drawer Soccer’s Top-100 Freshman list earlier this month with Hermannsdottir coming in at No. 10 and Thoreson coming in at No. 38.

The Rebels lead the all-time series against LSU 13-12-4 and have won three of the last four matches in the series. Each of those three wins have been shutouts including a 2-0 clean sheet against the then-ranked No. 5 Tigers last season.