Kelby ZendejasAfter going 6-0 in the spring season, Ole Miss soccer earned their ninth bid into the NCAA tournament., The 2020 Women’s Soccer Championship was postponed until 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic and will be played from April 27 to May 17.
The Rebels are set to face Bowling Green in the first round and hope to make their NCAA run a long one.
“I’m very excited for us to have made the field of 48,” said head coach Matt Mott from Ole Miss Athletics. “It’s such a great accomplishment for this team. They’ve worked so hard through the fall and then to go undefeated during the spring was such a testament to the culture and the character that we have here at Ole Miss. We are excited to get to North Carolina and get back to work.”
The Rebels earned a perfect record this spring (6-0), making their overall current record 10-5 to close out the regular spring and fall seasons. This marks the third time in the last four seasons that Ole Miss has earned an NCAA tournament bid and the fifth time in Matt Mott’s time as head coach.
In their last NCAA outing, the Rebels advanced to the second round after defeating Clemson 2-1 in 2018. The Rebels faced then-ranked No.1 Stanford in the second round, only to fall 4-1, ending their NCAA tournament run .
“The idea that we’re playing somebody from a different region that we’ve never played before, it’s one of the great highlights of this tournament,” Mott said. “When you look around there are so many great matchups because we’re all in the same area in North Carolina.”
The Bowling Green Falcons and Ole Miss Rebels have never faced each other on the field, however, the Falcons earned a bid after a 6-1 spring season and a Mid-American ConferenceChampionship win. The Falcons didn’t play a fall season and opened up play in February. In 2019, the Falcons ended with a 14-6-3 overall record. The team made it to the first round and played against Michigan, where the Falcons lost 2-1.
“We’re excited to play Bowling Green. We don’t know much about them at this point, but we’ll certainly go to work on everything we can,” Mott said. “We know they are going to be a challenging opponent. They’ve won their tournament a number of times and when I’ve seen them play in the past, they’re always a tough team.”
The Rebels’ NCAA journey is set to start on Tuesday, April 27, in Wilmington, North Carolina at 6:00 p.m.
