ELLISVILLE, Miss. — The "Cat Fight" on the soccer pitch between No. 13 Pearl River and No. 1 Jones College lived up to the high expectations. A back-and-forth defensive battle carried on for 110 minutes to send the two teams to penalty kicks, where the Wildcats pulled out a thrilling 2-1 victory to stun the top-ranked team in the country.
With the victory, Pearl River advances to Sunday's Gulf South District Final at 5 p.m. against Northwest. It marks the first time under the direction of head coach Henrik Madsen that the Wildcats will play for a berth in the National Tournament.
"I'm really, really proud of the effort they put in there," head coach Henrik Madsen said. "We tried to keep the best team in the country from beating us in regulation, and once you get into overtime and penalties, it's anyone's game. Jones is a really good team. This was important for us.
"We finally got over the hump of the silly semifinal loss that I've had over the last few years. I'm really happy to get into the final. We will go home and recover tonight and tomorrow and give it everything we've got on Sunday."
MATCH RECAP
Jones College (13-1-1 overall) pushed for goals quickly in the first half, but a stout Pearl River (12-5-1) defense kept the Bobcats off the scoresheet. Two minutes into the game, JC fired a shot toward the goal that Celine Grothe (Lübeck, Germany) dove to save. The ball looked as if it was going to be cleaned up by a nearby Bobcat, but Mackenzie Winters (Ocean Springs) dashed in to fire the ball out of play and end the threat.
In the 18th minute, Pearl River had its first real threat of the contest, earning a free kick on the left side of the pitch. Maddie Cuevas (Kiln; Hancock) served a great ball into the box, but the Jones College keeper punched the ball away before any PRCC players could get to it.
Four minutes later, Ann Maris Ragan (Flowood; Hartfield Academy) fought for possession near the backline before finding some space and serving a ball into the box. Frederikke Nielsen (Spentrup, Denmark; Randers Statsskole) managed to get a foot on the ball while falling but couldn't direct it and it went out of play for a JC goal kick.
The Bobcats went back on the offensive over the majority of the rest of the half, developing several chances. The Wildcat backline was up for the challenge repeatedly and kept them out of the back of the net to enter the midway point deadlocked at 0-0.
Grothe came up big for Pearl River in the 73rd minute after Jones earned a corner kick. The ball sent into the box was headed on goal, but the Wildcat keeper saved the attempt. Grothe made another huge save in the 86th minute to keep the match scoreless.
Ninety minutes wasn't enough, and the two teams headed into overtime. PRCC developed chance-after-chance in each of the 10-minute overtime periods but just couldn't finish off any of the opportunities, sending the match into penalty kicks.
The Bobcats stepped up to take the first penalty kick and skied it high over the crossbar and out of play. Frederikke Nielsen took PRCC's initial chance, but the Jones College keeper saved it.
Jones College slotted their following penalty opportunity into the left side of the net, bringing up Amélie Wittenkamp (Oelstykke, Denmark; Egdal Gymnasium). The freshman was calm and collected and sent a ball opposite of the goalkeeper's guess and squared things up at 1-1.
Grothe was clutch on the ensuing Jones College penalty attempt. She was composed leading up to the shot attempt and then dove to her right to make the massive save.
"It's the hardest thing ever," Grothe said. "I was just praying and praying so that God would help me. Penalties are a mix of trying to play mind games with the player who is shooting and just guessing. I was sure she'd go to the right side, and I made the save. I am just so happy right now."
Milla Nielsen (Horsens, Denmark) had her penalty saved, but luckily for the Wildcats, the follow-up from JC was sent clanging off the crossbar. Sophomore striker Adele Mooney (Lafayette, La.; Ascension Episcopal) pushed Pearl River in front by slashing her penalty into the left side of the net.
All PRCC needed was one more save or a Bobcat miss, and Jones College sent its penalty kick off the frame, sending Pearl River into pandemonium with a 2-1 penalty kicks victory.
For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on X (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).
