POPLARVILLE, Miss. — A dominant showing against a ranking opponent helped the No. 10 Pearl River women's soccer team secure the right to host a home playoff match as the Wildcats thumped No. 19 Itawamba 4-0 on Tuesday night.

With the victory, PRCC has now eclipsed the 10-win mark for a third consecutive season.

"There's never an easy game in this conference. From top to bottom, everyone is organized and do a good job with it," head coach Henrik Madsen said. "It's a credit to our girls for rounding into form at the right time of the year. They're showing the quality that we think they have. It's looking better and better.

"I was really happy. We came out really well. The quality was high, and we took care of business."

Pearl River will now host rival Gulf Coast Saturday for the Region 23 Quarterfinals, with the winner advancing to the Region 23 Semifinal hosted by Jones College.

After 30 minutes of defense-heavy soccer, the scoring started to come regularly for Pearl River (10-3-2 overall; 8-2-1 MACCC) against Itawamba (12-3-1; 7-3-1). The first goal came 32 minutes into the night after a ball into the box rattled around for a bit before Jessica Lawrence (Ocean Springs) finished off the chance, 1-0.

Two minutes later, the lead increased to two goals — thanks to an incredible connection between Frederikke Nielsen (Randers, Denmark) and Yazmin Humphrey (Lucedale; George County). Nielsen pushed the ball down the right side before delivering a perfect cross to the middle of the box. Humphrey was in the perfect place and headed the ball into the back of the net with authority, 2-0.

The goal-storing streak continued in the 37th minute, making it three goals in five minutes. Marieke Faber (Britsum, Netherlands) took the corner for the Wildcats and sent a great lofted ball into the box. Alexis Conard (Wiggins; Stone County) leaped high and headed the ball down and into the net for the goal, 3-0.

Pearl River added its final goal of the night in the 58th minute with the help of an Itawamba mistake. The ICC centerback attempted to clear a ball in the box but didn't get enough force behind her kick. The ball landed at the feet of Nielsen, and she chipped the goalkeeper to make the score 4-0.

Pearl River's defensive unit held strong and secured the 4-0 clean-sheet victory.

TICKETING
Tickets are on sale now at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets. Tickets purchased in advance are $8. Tickets purchased on gameday are $10.

TUNE IN
All Pearl River home soccer matches 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.

For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on X (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).