RIDGELAND, Miss. — The No. 2 Pearl River men's soccer team battled hard for 110 minutes in Sunday's MACCC/Region 23 Final before falling to No. 15 Gulf Coast in penalty kicks 8-7. 

"It was an extremely hard game.," head coach Drew Gallant said. "It's definitely the rivalry game that we expected. It just didn't come out the way we wanted on the penalties. It was a great performance from Gulf Coast. It was a really fun game to watch. There was a lot of emotion. A great performance from both teams with players playing through tired legs."

Pearl River (12-0-3) was on the prowl early nearly getting on the board several times in the first 15 minutes of play. 

In the 18^th minute, a ball crossed into the box was just a little too high for the leaping Peyton Ladner (Gulfport). The ball bounced and found Alex Emery (West Harrison; Gulfport) who tried to kick it home, but his shot was blocked by a Gulf Coast (11-5-2) defender. 

Just four minutes later, Ryley Smith (Manchester, England.; Castlebrook) put the Wildcats on top. Andre Nicholson (Kingston, Jamaica.; Clarendon College) ran a ball down the left wing before passing the ball off to Mohamed Diallo (Gulfport). Diallo dribbled a few steps forward before lofting a passing to the Smith who had timed his run perfectly. Smith swiftly smashed home the shot.

Smith nearly doubled the PRCC advantage in the 27^th minute, but the Bulldog goalkeeper saved the shot.

The Bulldogs had a shot blocked by Jamie Chamberlain (London, England.; Dover Athletic Academy) in the 33^rd minute to keep Pearl River on top. 

A through ball to the right side of the field could not be tracked down by Dustin Cuevas (Picayune; Hancock).

The 42^nd minute saw Nicholson shoot a ball along the ground for the far post, but the MGCCC keeper dove to his left to make the save.

The Wildcats entered the break with a 1-0 lead.

Right out of the half in the 54^th minute, Gulf Coast smacked a shot toward goal where Maddux Francis (Poplarville) plucked the ball out of the air to keep Pearl River on top.

Two minutes later in the 57^th minute, the Bulldogs put a point on the board to tie the game 1-1. 

In the 68^th minute, MGCCC played a ball into the box, but Pearl River quickly cleared the danger.

The Wildcats retook the lead in the 76^th minute. Brandon Elkins (Bay St. Louis; St. Stanislaus) smacked a ball into the box where Harper Baggett (Ocean Springs) jumped high above everyone to head the ball home, giving Pearl River a 2-1 lead with 14 minutes remaining.

Just four minutes later, Gulf Coast was able to get back on the board to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime.

Nothing was happening for either team in overtime, ending the two 10-minute periods still tied 2-2. The game then headed to penalty kicks where MGCCC won 8-7. 

AT-LARGE BID
Pearl River has a strong case to receive one of the four At-Large bids into the NJCAA tournament in Wichita, Kansas.

The Wildcats climbed up to No. 2 in the country in the latest edition of the NJCAA Soccer rankings while outscoring opponents 39-6. 

Pearl River finished conference play with an unblemished record at 9-0-1. Of the 9 conference wins four were against ranked opponents. 

"I feel good about our chances," Gallant said. "Obviously with our ranking that should help, and we've had good overall performances against ranked teams this season."

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