DECATUR, Miss. — The No. 6 Pearl River men's soccer team got past an uncharacteristically sloppy night Tuesday night at East Central, battling to secure a 2-0 victory on the road. With the victory, Pearl River remains at the top of the MACCC standings, leading Jones College by two points with three matches to play.

"We looked off the mark tonight. We were slow and sluggish even though we scored early on," head coach Drew Gallant said. "They (East Central) are very well-coached and gave us lots of problems. They were the better team in the first half. We made a couple of tactical changes at halftime that seemed to create more opportunities for us in space. I was happy we adjusted and got the road win."

It looked as if Pearl River (11-2-2 overall; 7-0-1 MACCC) was in for a big night against East Central (3-9; 3-5) as the Wildcats scored two minutes into the match. Following a throw-in, Ian Graham (Meridian; Biloxi) ripped a shot toward the goal that was deflected by a Warrior defender. Tiago Honorio Jr. (São Paulo, Brazil) was in the right place at the right time and crashed in to smash home the shot on the volley, 1-0.

Things were slow for PRCC for the rest of the match, and it wasn't until the 65th minute that the Wildcats broke through for another goal. After earning a penalty kick, Honorio Jr. stepped to the spot to take it. East Central's goalkeeper guessed the right direction on his shot to make a save, but the forward quickly knocked home the rebounding ball, 2-0.

The Wildcats were sound defensively the rest of the night to help secure the 2-0 victory.

NEXT UP
Pearl River heads to Raymond on Tuesday for a pivotal MACCC matchup against No. 15 Hinds. Kickoff against the Eagles is at 7 p.m. The match will be livestreamed at HindsCCSports.net.

"Hinds is a very defensive team that works extremly hard," Gallant said. "They have the second-leading goal-scorer in the conference even though they defend a lot. It's always a huge battle when we go there."

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