SEC Soccer Week 11 Preview: The Regular Season Finales

Game of the Week

With the top ten teams earning berths to the SEC Tournament, attention turns this week to Oxford as 10th placed Ole Miss hosts 11th placed Tennessee. Tennessee is three points behind the Rebels, so Tennessee needs the win to match Ole Miss's point total. Matching would also give the Volunteers the first tiebreaker, as it is head-to-head record. Ole Miss will advance with either a win or tie. Auburn, South Carolina and Arkansas lie two points ahead of Ole Miss and five points ahead of Tennessee, so Ole Miss could leap them, but Tennessee can only catch Ole Miss.

Ole Miss will be looking for its first home SEC win on the season. The Rebels have three ties and a loss at home so far in 2014, so if they miss out on the SEC Tournament, it will not be due to their 10 points (in six games) on the road but their measly home performance. Ole Miss's lone senior is goalkeeper Kelly McCormick. McCormick tied the Ole Miss career record of 22 shutouts four weeks ago against Alabama, but the Rebels have been unable to break the record for McCormick while yielding nine goals in their last four games.

Tennessee comes to Oxford off a big 3-0 win over Missouri that broke a two game losing skid. The Volunteers have been inconsistent, but the most potentially dooming loss in their SEC Tournament hopes was a 2-0 home loss to in-state rival Vanderbilt. In games the Volunteers score two or more goals, they are 7-0, but are 1-9-1 in games they scored fewer than two goals.

The Volunteers are looking to continue their undefeated record in Oxford. The Rebels have a 0-6-1 record against Tennessee in Oxford and have lost their last three games against Tennessee, including a 3-0 result in Knoxville in 2013. Thursday's game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

The Undercard

• Seventh place Arkansas travels to fifth place Missouri in an effort to earn a first round bye. The top six teams get a bye in the SEC Tournament, but a logjam of teams that are locked into the tournament but fighting for seeding stands in the middle of the table. Fourth placed Alabama to ninth placed Auburn are only separated by two points, so the head-to-head matchup of the Razorbacks and Tigers could be critical to both teams hopes to earn the bye.
• The aforementioned Crimson Tide travel to third place Kentucky. Kentucky is locked into at least third place as they are four points ahead of the Tide. The Tide, on the other hand, could fall significantly down the table with a loss and a string of other results going against them.
• Texas A&M and Florida enter the weekend separated by one point in the chase for the regular season SEC title. Florida needs help, but it has the easier game as it hosts Vanderbilt while A&M hosts Georgia. As Florida beat A&M earlier in the season, it holds the tiebreaker over the Aggies. So, the Aggies will need to at least match Florida's result on Thursday to take the crown.

Standings

All standings W-L-T; 3 points per win, 1 per tie, 0 per loss.

Results and Schedule