Pearl River fights back to earn hard-fought tie

POPLARVILLE, Miss.— Seventy minutes passed between goals and 110 minutes weren’t enough to break the eventual deadlock as the Pearl River women’s soccer team and East Central played to a 1-1 tie Tuesday night at the PRCC Sports Complex.

“Obviously it’s not ideal to give up a goal 45 seconds in, but it is what it is. It was a big hole and allowed them to sit in deep and play more direct,” Pearl River coach Henrik Madsen said. “Their keeper made two or three unreal saves on shots I thought were going in. Paige (Horsnell) saved us a couple of times as well.”

ECCC (4-2-1 overall) struck in the first minute, cashing in on a corner kick.

Although the Wildcats maintained possession and dictated play for much of the first half, PRCC (5-0-1) didn’t even the score until the 71st minute.

The strike served as a bit of redemption for sophomore Zigi Ahortor (Accra, Ghana). The forward missed a couple chances in close minutes earlier, but on the tail end of a Pearl River buildup, Ahortor took a pass in close from Maddie Beets (Long Beach) and blasted it past the ECCC keeper to tie the game 1-1.

“It was good composure and buildup. Maddie found her in the box and she just slotted it in,” Madsen said. “Zigi played great for us today and created a lot of chances.

“She worked really hard in the midfield role.”

Both teams traded chances throughout the rest of the match. PRCC’s best shot came in the final minute of regulation. K.K. Snyder (Leakesville; Greene County) sent a shot hurling toward the top left corner but ECCC’s keeper somehow got a glove on it to turn the chance away.

With three minutes left in overtime, ECCC broke in on goal and would have netted a golden goal had it not been for the alert defensive play of MaKenzie Ezell (Ocean Springs).

“They made us miss and the ball got past Paige, but Mackenzie was on the spot,” Madsen said. “That was good.”

Horsnell, the reigning MACJC Goalkeeper of the Week, made four saves in the contest, including a doozie on a point-blank chance from ECCC about six minutes before PRCC’s equalizer.

NEXT UP

The Wildcats return to the pitch Tuesday with a road trip across the state to Itawamba. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.

HOW TO TUNE IN

All home events will be broadcast on PRCCAthletics.com and PRCCMedia.com. Anyone who has an Amazon Fire or Roku device can stream PRCC broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" Channel from the app store.

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