POPLARVILLE, Miss. — An impressive four-goal display by Tiago Honorio Jr. (São Paulo, Brazil; Zacarias Antônio da Silva) highlighted a fantastic Sophomore Night performance for the Pearl River men's soccer team as the Wildcats took down the Rangers 6-2.

"We made a lot of mistakes that we normally don't make. I know they're very athletic and are pretty organized," head coach Drew Gallant said. "It forced us into a lot of mistakes. I wasn't happy with that, but I was really happy with our finishing. It was nice to get everybody out there to play and get some balls into the back of the net. 

Honorio Jr.'s four goals are tied for the second-most in a single match in program history. 

"Tiago did a great job. He's just so hard to handle," Gallant said. "The first couple of goals were created by work from the wingers to create space for Tiago up front. Some of those he just did on his own. He has speed and athleticism, and he's so composed. You can't coach that."

MATCH RECAP
Pearl River (8-4-3 overall; 7-1-3 MACCC) was hot right from the jump Tuesday evening as Tiago Honorio Jr. scored three minutes in. The play all started with a big boot up to the top of the formation by Mikkel Fredsgaard (Allerød, Denmark; Lyngby Handelsgymnasium). Joel Morales (Gulfport) came down with the ball and quickly decided to pass off to Jason Irias (D'Iberville) on the right side. The sophomore cut in the box, dribbled a bit and fired a pass across the goal to Honorio Jr. for a tap-in.

Honorio Jr. earned his brace six minutes later as the striker found his way on the other end of a Daxx Dodson (Gulfport) cross and sliced the ball into the back of the net.

Honorio Jr. continued to be a handful for the defense, earning his hat trick in only the 19th minute of the night. A ball was played to the 6-foot-4 Brazilian with his back toward the defense. He promptly turned to his right and dashed straight through the Northwest backline before going low to the ground to smash a ball into the bottom right corner of the net, 3-0. 

Just before the half ended, Northwest capitalized on a PRCC mistake to get on the board in the 39th minute, 3-1.

Honorio Jr. was calm and composed in front of the net before bagging his fourth goal of the night in the 59th minute. He tracked down a ball played in front of him and made his way into the box. He used a fake shot to get past his first defender and dribbled away from the sliding goalkeeper moments later. The defender recovered and attempted to get in the way once more, but Honorio Jr.'s quick move to the outside freed him up enough to fire a shot into the right side of the goal. 

Mark Peaden III (Ocean Springs) joined in on the goal-scoring barrage in the 63rd minute. A ball played across the box by Brennon Maulden (Wiggins; Stone County) was perfect for Peaden III as he smashed the ball into the back of the net on his first touch, 5-1. 

Maulden added PRCC's final goal in the 87th minute. Donovan Minor (Poplarville) made an appearance in the midfield for the Wildcats and quickly helped create a goal. After the Ranger backline headed a ball down, Minor flicked a pass ahead for the crashing Maulden. Maulden took a small touch and then eased the ball past the keeper with his shot to extend the lead to 6-1. 

Northwest added its own goal in the 89th minute, but Pearl River walked away with an impressive 6-2 victory.

UP NEXT
Pearl River will host Southwest on Saturday in the Gulf District Tournament Quarterfinals. Match time is still to be decided. 

"It's going to be a really tough battle," Gallant said. "This is probably the toughest draw we could have had. It's always a big rivalry between us and Southwest. I expect them to bring their best, and we will get an absolute game from them."

TUNE IN
All 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.

CASHLESS BOX OFFICE
To help improve traffic flow and fan experience, PRCC athletics box offices will be cashless in 2023-24. Only credit and debit cards will be accepted at the box office. Fans are encouraged to beat the lines and purchase their tickets in advance at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets.

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