POPLARVILLE, Miss. — Few things are certain in the world of athletics, but one that feels like it is the Pearl River men's soccer team playing in the Gulf South District Semifinal.
With an inspiring 2-0 victory over Meridian Friday night at the PRCC Soccer Complex, the No. 10 Wildcats have advanced to the semifinal match for an eighth consecutive season. Pearl River now matches up with archrival Gulf Coast Thursday night at 7 p.m. The teams have played twice this season, with both matches finishing as 2-2 draws.
"We defended better than we have been lately. It was much more of a team effort tonight," head coach Drew Gallant said. "We've talked about rotating more, and the players have all been on board. There was a team out there tonight instead of individuals.
"This will be our eighth semifinal in a row. This is what we do. We find a way to get into the playoffs, and then we take it one game at a time."
The opening goal of the night for Pearl River (12-4-3 overall) against Meridian (9-7-3) happened almost as soon as the match got underway. Two minutes into the night, PRCC collected the opening goal.
Tiago Honorio Jr. (São Paulo, Brazil) chested down a ball into the box and passed it off to Noah Fazal (Vaerloese, Denmark). The attacking midfielder took a quick touch and then passed off to Emil Corfitzen (Copenhagen, Denmark), who was cutting inside. On the first touch, Corfitzen blasted it along the ground and past the diving MCC goalkeeper for the early 1-0 lead.
A bit of history was made on Pearl River's second goal of the night as Honorio Jr. tied the single-season goal-scoring record with his 27th of the year — evening the 2003 mark of his head coach. On the play, Julio Martinez (Hattiesburg; Oak Grove) pushed a ball forward for Tycho van Haaren (Doetinchem, Netherlands). The winger wasted no time getting the ball into the box, crossing it on his first touch. Honorio Jr. was in the perfect place as he went down to the ground while smashing a shot into the back of the net, growing the advantage to 2-0 in the 15th minute.
Although Pearl River picked up two quick goals, it had a hard time finding the goal throughout the rest of the night. It was up to the Wildcat defense to keep PRCC ahead. Thankfully, the backline and goalkeeper Cameron Kent (Brandon) were up to the task. In the 53rd minute, Kent made one of his best saves of the night, fully extending to save a shot attempt destined for the lower 90 of the goal.
MCC continued to push the Wildcats, but they held strong enough to walk away with a 2-0 win.
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