Talk to the No.16 Missouri women’s soccer squad and much will be said about chemistry, a little thing that turns good teams into great ones.

Junior forward Alyssa Diggs and junior Danielle Nottingham — who platoon between midfield and defense — are a microcosm of this. On the field, they protect each other while patrolling the omnipresent and relentless Tiger press. They skip arm-in-arm to interviews and finish each other’s sentences.

To them, these relationships the X factor of their team. It’s not so much how appropriately their 7-1 record reflects what’s been almost half a season of dominant play, or how the group didn’t seem to lose a beat when Diggs — arguably Missouri’s most dangerous scorer — missed four games earlier in the year because of a bum hamstring.

“Our team is special because we have chemistry on and off the field,” said Diggs, before getting cut off. “The bonding time that we have off the field …“

“… reflects on the field,” interjected Nottingham.

Superficially, this togetherness translates in the win-loss record, which after weekend wins at Auburn and South Carolina, sees the Tigers sitting atop their new conference at 2-0. But Missouri credits much of its success thus far to a stifling press, a constantly rotating shift with the intent on turning defense into offense that takes trust and discipline to pull off correctly.

“One of the things on our team is that we don’t leave our defenders stranded,” Diggs said. “We always press as a team, we always work together. On offense, the press starts with us. We’re going to work hard for our defenders to make sure they’re not being killed during the game.”

These defenders, who have recorded four shutouts already and allowed only five total goals all season, face a tall task Friday night when they welcome 8-1 Ole Miss and super scorers Mandy McCalla and Rafaelle Souza to Columbia.

Forwards McCalla and Souza – who Tiger coach Brian Blitz calls “very dangerous” – both have nine goals and 21 total points each this year, good for fourth and seventh in the nation, respectively. They have led a Rebel attack that has outscored its opponents 30-8 (including lopsided 5-0 and 8-0 wins over Troy and Arkansas-Little Rock, respectively, in August) but surrendered half of those goals in a 4-0 loss to No. 10 Texas A&M last week.

“(They are) world-class players,” said Blitz. “We’re certainly aware of both of those players. They’re impressive. It’ll be a good test to see where we’re at.”

Blitz contrasted what his team will probably face against Ole Miss to what it recently went up against at South Carolina, in a game Missouri won on a late goal, 1-0. He said while the Gamecocks focused on defending, goalkeeping and set pieces, Ole Miss will play more offensively-minded.

“Their best defense is their attack,” Blitz said. “Our players are impressed by (McCalla and Souza). They’ve watched them on film. They bring a unique challenge, and I think that’s what our players are excited about.”

Or are they?

Both Diggs and Nottingham — appropriately in unison — vehemently denied knowing any Ole Miss players by name or any stats. They also joked on the idea of a special game plan for the Rebels, saying they just need to play their game, which to them means relaxing, having fun, and in regards to skilled opponent forwards, “pinning them in to where they don’t have options,” according to Nottingham.

“Our special game plan,” Diggs said with a grin, “Is to focus on our game, do what we do best and …”

“Bring energy,” cut in Nottingham.

Diggs looked to her teammate, smiled and nodded.

“Bring energy,” she said.