RAYMOND, Miss. — The No. 9 Pearl River men's soccer team earned its fifth straight win Friday evening, defeating Hinds 4-2 in a hard-fought, emotional match.
"It was an absolute battle all night long. It was a fight and was a really good game for us," head coach Drew Gallant said. "I'm glad we managed to get out of it with the win. Our league is so tough. This conference receives recognition all around the country for being so hard. We don't have any easy games here."
Although the Wildcats defeated the Eagles 6-2 early in the season, Friday's match had a much different feel.
"They were missing one of their best players for our first matchup and they've changed formations now," Gallant said. "Robert (Gardner) has done a really good job of getting them organized. He's a first-year coach, so it takes some time to get things organized and get the system going. Clearly, it's headed in the right direction for them.
Andre Nicholson (Kingston, Jamaica; Clarendon College) gave Pearl River (9-2 overall; 6-1 MACCC) the lead in just the 6th minute of the night with a wonder goal. A ball was thrown to Luke Hopkins (Clinton) who promptly flicked it over to Nicholson. The sophomore jumped and scissor-kicked the ball l into the top right corner at the far post to make the score 1-0.
"That was such a special goal from Andre," Gallant said. "That's easily the most amazing goal that we've scored all year."
If the goal bothered Hinds (3-6; 3-2), it sure didn't show it as the Eagles equalized just two minutes later to make the score 1-1.
In the 15th minute, Christopher Dommer (Copenhagen, Denmark) put the Wildcats right back in front. Alex Emery (Gulfport; West Harrison) beat someone down the right wing and slid a ball across the pitch to Dommer for the easy tap-in goal.
Maddux Francis (Poplarville) logged an incredible save in the 26th minute. Hinds had earned a free kick just outside of the box and tried to go for goal. The ball made it just over the top of the PRCC wall and Francis reacted quickly, diving to his right to push the ball out of the way.
The Dommer and Emery duo linked up once again in the 35th minute. Emery again was able to make his way past the Hinds backline before passing off to Dommer for the goal. The goal for Dommer was his 10th of the season. He also has a remarkable 11 assists so far.
"I've never had a player do that," Gallant said. "Chris has been extremely special for us. He scores the easy goals and the difficult goals. He also does a good job of making them happen. He's a selfless player. He makes the right decision of when to score goals and when to give them away."
The Eagles continued to battle back, cutting the deficit to one goal at 3-2 in the 40th minute.
Emery added in another goal for the Wildcats in the 69th minute to make the score 4-2. Harper Baggett (Ocean Springs) booted a ball all the way from his center back position to the sprinting Emery. The forward cut into the box before knocking a shot off the hands of the Hinds goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
NEXT UP
Pearl River travels to Perkinston Tuesday for a match against archrival Gulf Coast. The game is set to get underway at 7 p.m. and will be livestreamed at MGCCCBulldogs.com/watch.
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