Oxford, Miss. - Senior captain Amy Loughran railed in a close-range shot through the defense in the seventh minute of the game to give the Bulldogs (2-3) an early lead, but the Rebels (4-2-1) rallied to score six unanswered goals on their way to a 6-1 victory at Ole Miss Soccer Complex in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
The Bulldogs were able to land the first two shots of the game in under eight minutes as The Citadel came out of the gate a step ahead of Ole Miss. Sophomore Mariana Garcia drilled the first shot on goal in the fourth minute that was saved by Rebel goalkeeper Alley Ronaldi. The Bulldogs managed to keep the ball in Ole Miss territory and just moments later the game's second shot found the back of the net to give Loughran her second goal on the season and the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead over the Southeast Conference foe.
The Rebels settled in after the early goal and managed to record the game's next 11 shots as they kept senior goalie Laura Serafino busy with 4 saves on 13 shots in her 45 minutes of play. It wasn't until the 34th minute that Serafino would let a one-time blast off the foot of Mississippi's Alix Hildal (1) to even the game at one goal apiece in the first half.
Ole Miss played extremely well on both ends of the field in the second half as they managed to outshoot the Bulldogs 13-2 (26-5 for the game) as their offense lit up the scoreboard for five goals in just 45 minutes on freshman goalkeeper Sarah Katchen, who saw her first collegiate action today in Oxford.
The SEC's leader in goals and assists, Rafaelle Souza, managed to rack up two more assists and a goal en route to the Rebels' 6-1 rout of the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs will travel to Orangeburg, S.C. on Wednesday, Sept. 14 to take on South Carolina State in a 7 p.m. game under the lights before returning to Charleston to begin a four-game home stretch against Charleston Southern (9/17), Presbyterian (9/20), Western Carolina (9/23) and Appalachian State (9/25).