Lady Wildcats get back on track with convincing win

POPLARVILLE— Pearl River Community College’s women’s soccer team got back to its winning ways on Friday with a convincing 4-1 victory over Meridian Community College at the PRCC soccer complex.

The victory was a dominating one for the Lady Wildcats (2-3, 1-0 MACJC South Division) as PRCC played the majority of the match in MCC’s end of the field.

Assistant coach Tom Keen, who was calling the shots from the dugout in place of Jack Byrd after the head coach earned two yellow cards in the team’s last match.

“The confidence from practice was high and I think that carried over into the game,” Keen said. “This was one of the first times we started the first half on the front foot.”

With MCC using more of a bunker-and-counter approach in the match, Keen told his team to stay aggressive.

“I told the girls at halftime to continue to get shots off because the sooner we get them off, they’ll start to step and when they do that the space will appear,” he said.

Rena Gordon (Clarendon, Jamaica) continued to set the tone on the attack for PRCC. In addition to drawing a penalty kick — that Zigi Ahortor (Accra, Ghana) buried — she also scored two goals of her own. The first came on a nice chipped ball over the backline from Sarah Havens (Hurley; East Central), that Gordon headed past the exposed MCC keeper. Her second of the match came around the 64thminute. After a scramble in front of the MCC goal mouth, Gordon came up with the ball on the right side and kicked it just inside the far post to put PRCC ahead 4-1.

“Her speed is deadly,” Keen said. “We can play her in a number of positions because of her speed. “I think she can actually run faster with the ball than without. Nobody can stop her.”

Skylar Spears (Clarkdale) opened the scoring in the 30th minute, scoring on a shot from distance that dipped just under the cross bar.

Pearl River Community College midfielder Rena Gordon (10) — shown in the opener against Itawamba Community College — scored twice and drew a penalty kick Fridayas the Lady Wildcats knocked off Meridian Community College 4-1 at the PRCC soccer complex.

PRCC’s keeper tandem of Candyce Martin (Gautier) and Malliorie Seal (Brooklyn; Forrest County AHS) weren’t tested often, but they came up with the necessary saves when called upon. Martin finished with three saves in 60 minutes, while Seal closed out the win with two saves in the final 30 minutes.

“Candyce is not afraid of anything,” Keen said.

PRCC is back in action Tuesday with a road trip to Jones County Junior College. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.

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