COLUMBIA, Tenn. — The No. 8 Pearl River women's soccer team suffered its first defeat of the 2023 season on Sunday, falling against undefeated NJCAA DI foe Columbia State 2-0.

It took 16 minutes for the Chargers (7-0-1 overall) to take the lead. A ball was played ahead from the back of the formation to a sprinting CSCC striker. She tracked down the ball and slid a shot into the right side of the net for the goal, 1-0.

Celine Grothe (Lübeck, Germany; Carl-Jacob-Burkhardt) turned in the save of the year to this point late in the first half. A Charger winger smashed a shot from nearly 20 yards out to the left side of the goal. Grothe moved to her right and dove high into the air to push the shot out of play. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Columbia State knocked home a shot on the ensuing corner kick to take a 2-0 lead.

Chances were few and far between for Pearl River over the course of the second half. Frederikke Nielsen (Spentrup, Denmark; Randers Stattskole) was awarded a free kick attempt with around five minutes remaining in the contest, but the Charger goalkeeper caught her shot to end the threat.  

UP NEXT
Pearl River will play its first home match of the 2023 season on Friday as rival Gulf Coast comes to Poplarville for the conference opener. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.

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 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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