WKU Drops 4-0 Decision in Tough Road Test at Ole Miss

Sunday, August 19

Oxford, Miss.

6 P.M. CT

Western Kentucky University

0-2

Ole Miss

2-0

WKU

Ole Miss

8/19/2018 9:43:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

OXFORD, Miss. – WKU dropped a 4-0 decision on Sunday evening in a tough road battle at SEC foe Ole Miss as the Lady Toppers continued their season-opening three-match road swing.

Bailee Witt, making her first collegiate start in goal for the Lady Toppers, made four saves while playing the full 90 minutes between the posts. Fellow freshman Olivia Stanley also drew her first start since arriving on The Hill, seeing 60 minutes of action and launching a pair of shots for WKU.

CeCe Kizer, a United Soccer Coaches All-American in 2017, netted a hat trick for Ole Miss and led all players with four shots on goal. Marnie Merritt played all 90 minutes in goal for the Rebels to earn the shutout.

Neither side was able to get much going on the offensive end early in the match, with just one combined shot attempt over the first 15 minutes. Ole Miss generated a pair of corners and had two chances around the 20-minute mark, but WKU's defense held strong and turned away both tries.

Kizer nearly got the Rebels on the board at the 27:55 mark, but Witt shined in goal for the Lady Toppers and came up with her first save of the match, stonewalling the 2017 All-American to keep the score deadlocked after a half-hour of play.

Just before the halftime break, Ole Miss found the back of the net off the foot of Kizer, who fired to the bottom left corner for the 1-0 advantage. Witt came up with another key save against Channing Foster with just under two minutes left in the frame to keep the deficit at one goal for the Lady Toppers entering the locker room.

After storms rolled through the area causing a roughly 40-minute lightning delay, Ole Miss drew a penalty kick after a called handball in the box with 59:52 on the clock. Kizer, the SEC's top returning goalscorer from last season, stepped up and converted the penalty to double the Rebels' lead with just over 30 minutes remaining.

Ole Miss added two more goals over the final half-hour, as WKU surrendered an own goal (61st minute) and Kizer (72nd minute) scored for the Rebels to push the lead to 4-0.

Over the final 15 minutes, WKU was able to push up and had four shots, but the Lady Toppers were unable to put any of the chances on frame.

With the first weekend of play in the books, WKU will return to the pitch for a mid-week tilt at Evansville on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. The Lady Toppers are Purple Aces have a long history, squaring off nine times against each other in program history with WKU holding a near-perfect 7-1-1 record. In the most recent meeting on Sept. 3, 2017, in Bowling Green last season, WKU took down Evansville, 4-1, behind a pair of goals from Chandler Backes and one strike each from Ashley Leonard and Megan Morris.