POPLARVILLE, Miss. — One goal in overtime proved to be the difference Friday as Pearl River's women's soccer team fell to visiting Jones College 1-0 in double overtime on Sophomore Night.
The match was originally scheduled for earlier in the week but was moved to Friday due to weather.
The Wildcats (7-3-2 overall, 6-1 MACJC South) still maintain a tiebreaker over Jones College (11-6, 7-1) and will control their own destiny heading into Saturday's regular season finale. Should PRCC come away with a victory, the Wildcats will clinch their first South Division title since 2015. The title would also mean a first-round bye in the impending MACJC playoffs.
"I thought we started out really well but the last 20 minutes were absolutely shocking. Then we bounced back and started the second half well. We created the chances we were supposed to we just didn't score. In overtime, they call a foul, kick it into the box and we don't clear it.
"The good news is we still control our own destiny. As long as we handle our business we'll be in good shape."
EARLY CHANCES
The Wildcats had a couple chances early on but Briana Carr (Laurel; West Jones) and Jade Shaw (Carriere; Pearl River Central) sailed scoring chances in the 15th and 20th minutes respectively.
Jones had a prime chance 10 minutes later during a scramble in front of the goal, but the Bobcats clanked the shot off the post.
Maddie Beets (Long Beach) had arguably PRCC's best chance of the first half in the 33rd minute but sailed the kick over the cross bar from distance.
In the 52nd, Beets headed a ball through the box to Victoria Stewart (Pearl River, La.) crashing the back post, but Jones' keeper dove to her right to turn away the winger's shot.
Five minutes later, Paige Horsnell (London, England) turned away a point-blank chance to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0.
As the minutes ticked off the clock — and with JC needing two goals to gain the tiebreaker on PRCC — it was the Wildcats who actually had the better chances. Although JC ramped up the intensity as it looked to break through, PRCC found ways to break out on the counter but ultimately came up empty.
Jones snapped the shutout in the 112th minute, scoring off a free kick.
FIRST MATCH
These very same teams attempted to play Tuesday before Mother Nature intervened. Despite a downpour, Zigi Ahortor (Accra; Ghana) put the Wildcats ahead 1-0 in the 65th minute when she pounced on a loose ball between the keeper and JC's backline and deposited it into the exposed net. Two minutes later, however, the match was called — and ultimately cancelled — due to weather.
NEXT UP
Pearl River will conclude the 2019 regular season with a road contest at Southwest on Saturday. The rescheduled kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
HOW TO TUNE IN
All home events are broadcast on PRCCAthletics.com and PRCCMedia.com. Anyone who has an Amazon Fire or Roku device can stream PRCC broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" Channel from the app store.
For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on Twitter (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).
