POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The No. 9 Pearl River men's soccer team played in one the most hard-fought, physical matches of the season Friday, earning a 1-1 draw against No. 16 Copiah-Lincoln. The draw helped PRCC clinch a home playoff match Oct. 29 as part of the Region 23/Gulf District Tournament.

"It was definitely a physical match tonight," head coach Drew Gallant said. "We lost a bunch of guys to injury throughout. We played well but we just didn't finish the chances we had. When you don't finish your opportunities, a well-coached Copiah-Lincoln was eventually going to equalize. We're happy to have clinched a home playoff match with today's result."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Pearl River (9-3-1 overall; 6-2-1 MACCC) almost scored an incredible goal as the first half was winding down. In the 43rd minute, Andre Nicholson (Kingston, Jamaica.; Clarendon College) bicycle-kicked a ball straight into the air. The ball came down and found Christopher Dommer (Copenhagen, Denmark) who put a shot on goal, but it was saved by the Copiah-Lincoln (9-2-3; 6-1-2) goalkeeper.

Maddux Francis (Poplarville) came up big for the Wildcats with less than a minute remaining in the first half, diving to his right and saving a free-kick opportunity from the Wolves. 

In the 52nd minute, Dommer was able to get his head on a ball and send it to the right side of the net, but the ball trickled out of bounds. 

Nicholson almost gave PRCC the lead moments later but his shot smacked to the goal was easily saved by CLCC.

The 75th minute saw Francis make a great decision on his positioning. Instead of leaving his post to try to make the catch, the keeper decided to stay put. CLCC got a head on the ball and sent it on goal, but Francis was there to make the grab.

PRCC finally broke open the scoring in the 83rd minute. The Wildcats earned a corner kick and sent it into the box. The ball bounced off of a few players and found Durron Myers (Gulfport) on the right side. The sophomore turned and chipped the ball back toward the goal for Luke Hopkins (Clinton). Hopkins jumped and headed the ball off the bottom part of the crossbar and into the goal, putting Pearl River ahead 1-0.

Despite the flip in momentum, CLCC needed just four minutes to even up the scoring, sending the match into overtime. 

The teams continued the physical battle throughout both overtime periods, but neither could get the golden goal, ending the match in a 1-1 draw.

CAYCE SEAL GAME
Pearl River returns to action Tuesday for its regular season finale against Holmes. The match begins at 5 p.m. and will also serve as PRCC's annual Cayce Seal game. All proceeds from the contest will be donated to The Cayce Seal Memorial Scholarship Fund in remembrance of the former Wildcat captain.

TUNE IN
All home Pearl River soccer games are livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/gold. Fans who have Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel from their app stores.

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