POPLARVILLE, Miss. — In one of the more dramatic matches of the 2022 campaign, the No. 10 Pearl River women's soccer team stunned No. 3 Holmes with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Bulldogs.

"It was a really good performance by the girls," Pearl River coach Henrik Madsen said. "It's been a hard week with some sickness going around and some injuries. The girls battled hard, and we got a ton of effort from all of the players."

Madsen talked about what taking down a top-ranked team means for his team.

"Holmes has set the standard the last couple of years," he said. "It's always nice to see that we can compete with them. We've now beaten the No. 3 team in the country and tied with the No. 5 team."

Before the contest, HCC had given up just one goal in conference play, but the Wildcats broke through for three goals in the contest.

GAME SUMMARY
The start of the contest had things looking grim as Holmes (15-1-1 overall; 8-1-1 MACCC) needed only nine minutes to score. The Bulldogs pushed the ball up the pitch before playing the ball out wide and eventually putting it into the back of the net.

Soon after, Emma Godfrey (Pascagoula; Resurrection Catholic) turned on a shot and tried to send it into the top left corner of the net but instead sent it too high and too far.

The Wildcats finally tied the game up in the 35th minute. Adele Mooney (Lafayette, La.; Ascension Episcopal) was fed a ball up top and was able to get around the ball for a shot attempt. The freshman sent the ball on goal, and it hit off the fingertips of the HCC keeper and fell in for a goal.

"Adele was fantastic today," Madsen said. "It was probably the best game she's played for us so far. She did a great job of holding the ball up, made good passes then made a really good shot that the keeper couldn't hold."

The Bulldogs struck on the counterattack in the 55th minute to go back on top, 2-1.

Pearl River tied things up once again in the 68th minute on a stellar linkup from Aníta Guðmundsdóttir (Kópavogur, Iceland.; Flensborg) and Jess Harrison (Gulfport; St. Patrick). The Wildcats played the ball back to Guðmundsdóttir who looked way up the pitch for Harrison. The goalkeeper booted the ball deep down the field, Harrison waited on the pass, got a soft touch on the ball and then knocked it into the back of the net to make the score 2-2.

"I saw the ball bounce and knew that it was my chance to get a good touch on it," Harrison said. "I saw the keeper rushing out so I knew that I could get it by her, so I laced it into the back of the net. We've been working on these situations in practice, so I had confidence."

Both teams developed a few more chances down the stretch but were unable to score, entering overtime in a 2-2 tie.

It took just six minutes in the overtime period for the Wildcats to score the golden goal. Harrison received a pass, cut inside, cut back out then unleashed a shot that froze the Holmes goalkeeper and went into the net to give Pearl River a 3-2 victory.

"That might be one of the craziest things to ever happen to me," Harrison said. "My move is cutting, so I was able to get her twice with that. I saw my chance and just knocked it into the back of the net."

"The second goal was class from Jess," Madsen said. "She cut in twice and didn't try to smash it home, she just kind of placed it where it needed to be."

NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to action Saturday for a home Region 23 Quarterfinal match against Copiah-Lincoln. Kickoff time is still to be decided.

UP NEXT
Pearl River returns to the pitch Saturday as it hosts a Region 23 Quarterfinal match. The opponent and kickoff time are to be determined.

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.

CASHLESS BOX OFFICE
To help improve traffic flow and fan experience, PRCC athletics box offices will be cashless in 2022-23. 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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