Thursday, Missouri’s women’s soccer team faced No. 13 Ole Miss at Audrey J. Walton Soccer Stadium in Columbia, MO. This game was featured as their annual PINK OUT game for the month. The Rebels coming into this game are 11-2-2 and 6-2 against SEC competition. They have single handedly been one of the top dogs in the conference all year alongside Arkansas. Ole Miss was looking to bring the same tenacity and aggressiveness against Mizzou early in this game which they did against Vanderbilt on Sunday the 17th.
Early in the first period, Missouri set the stage of momentum with a goal by Megan Oduyoye within the first two minutes of the game. The defender showed off a little of her offensive skills, putting Mizzou up 1-0 for her first goal of the season. The early goal was a foundation builder and a spark for the Tigers in how they were going to play defensively and offensively.
Throughout the first period, Missouri was playing with a tenacity which Ole Miss was trying to emulate but they just couldn’t replicate. The Tigers had the Rebels in a bind all 1st period, something in which was very uncanny to see from one of the best teams in the country. Goalkeeper: McKenna Sheehan was a wall in goal and really played a big role in not letting the Rebels score any goals in the first period.
At the half, Mizzou only had three shots on goal to the Rebels’ two, the Tigers connecting with one of those shots. Mizzou’s defense was locked in all period and didn’t let Ole Miss have any opportunity to dictate the pace offensively, which resonated to a 1-0 lead at the half.
At the start of the second period, Ole Miss was looking to shake off their rust and the slow start from the first period and steal the pace of the game away from the Tigers. The Rebels were really looking to make them feel uncomfortable early in the period. Suddenly, Mizzou replicated like in the first, with an early goal by Cassidy Nurnberger in the first three minutes of the period to get out to a 2-0 lead. Ole Miss could really feel the pressure now mounting on their shoulders. They realized they needed to pick up the pace and take chances of being overly aggressive offensively. A correlation of that: in the 53rd minute, they were playing a little chippy, and even Mizzou’s Caroline Lyman wasn’t going to let the Rebels push her around. Lyman and the Rebels’ Haleigh Stackpole were given yellow cards for unsportsmanlike penalties.
In the middle of the period, Ole Miss finally was able to sneak a goal past McKenna Sheehan in the 58th minute to cut the Tigers’ lead to 2-1. Mizzou fans started to get a little worried and restless because there were still 30 minutes left in the game, but Mizzou’s defense stood tall and was relentless after the Rebel goal. Mizzou was tested in the 2nd period, when Ole Miss picked up the pace on their attacks with 12 shots on goal compared to their two in the first. The Tigers weren’t phased one bit though and played the best they have played all year to win 2-1.
There must just be a lot of magic and fight in those pink jerseys Missouri wears annually for Pink Out games. Mizzou has now beaten the No. 13-ranked team in the country back-to-back years, in which last year they beat Vanderbilt 2-1. Ole Miss falls to 11-3-2 and 6-2 in the conference. Mizzou is now 6-9 and 2-6 in the conference and looking to keep improving their position in the SEC Tournament race.