Aug. 16, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University soccer team opened its 2008 fall season Saturday with a hard-fought 1-0 loss against the Ole Miss Rebels in a preseason exhibition match held at Bulldog Field. Ole Miss' Amy Bayles scored the game-winning goal during the 51st minute of play.

"Even though we lost today, I thought that our players did really well," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "Ole Miss is a very good team and I feel confident that they will be in the NCAA Tournament this season. With the limited roster that we had today, I felt that our players really competed hard and did well."

With the loss, Samford was defeated in its preseason exhibition match for a second-straight year. The Bulldogs' most recent exhibition victory occurred in 2006 when Samford earned a 1-0 win at Alabama.

Last season, Samford dropped a 3-0 decision on the road against Ole Miss and went on to finish the 2007 campaign with a school-record 15-5-1 overall record. The Bulldogs also qualified for their second NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons and earned the first at-large bid to the Field of 64 in school history.

Ole Miss scored the lone goal of Saturday's match during the 51st minute of play.

On the score, the Rebels' senior forward Amy Bayles slipped a one-timer to the right of Samford's starting goalkeeper Alyssa Whitehead into the bottom corner of the net. Prior to Bayles' right-footed kick from two yards out, Ole Miss' Hannah Weatherly sent a centering cross directly in front of the net. Weatherly earned an assist on the play.

"We had a lot of young players get a significant amount of playing time out there today and they did a good job," Yelton said. "That's what exhibition matches are for is to give some people experience and I really feel that this game will help us in the future."

Samford started four freshmen, four sophomores and three juniors Saturday. Whitehead, the Bulldogs' highly-touted freshman goalkeeper, earned the start in the game and played 74 minutes. She only allowed one Ole Miss goal.

Senior Cayley Winters, who recently suffered an injury to her arm, played the final 16 minutes in goal. She is expected to be the starter this season once she fully recovers from her injury.

"I thought that Missy (Melissa) Miller was really a bright spot for us today," said Yelton. "Last year, she didn't play all that often, but today she got 90 minutes and did a fantastic job. I liked that I saw a lot of growth in our sophomores from last season and that is definitely a good thing."

Ole Miss, which was predicted to finish third in the Southeastern Conference's Western Division earlier this week, outshot Samford 16-4 on Saturday, but only had three shots on goal. The Bulldogs finished with four shots, one coming on goal.

"What we were able to do today was give ourselves a chance to win the game late," Yelton said. "With all of the injuries that we've had lately, we played a lot more low-pressure than we usually do, but we'd rather give people a chance to beat us from 30-yards out and not two."

Yelton also pointed out the outstanding play of junior Cindy Spiker and sophomore Colette Nammour. He also mentioned that true freshmen Theresa Henry, Mary Shelton Bryant and Whitehead turned in quality performances.

Bryant, a native of Signal Mountain, Tenn., nearly tied the match at 1-1 late in the game with a diving header during the 88th minute of play. Following a Samford corner kick, junior Caroline Baxter sent a crossing pass into the box that Bryant nearly headed past Ole Miss' second-half goalkeeper Alley Ronaldi.

The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Friday at 7 p.m., as the Bulldogs begin their regular-season schedule on the road against the Texas Longhorns at the Mike A. Myers Soccer Stadium in Austin, Texas.