No. 19 MGCCC pulls away from ECCC

PERKINSTON — No. 19 Mississippi Gulf Coast found its offensive touch again Friday night, pulling away with three second-half goals in a 4-1 men's soccer non-conference win over East Central.

After the Warriors tied things up shortly after intermission, the Bulldogs were able to pull away. Four different Bulldogs scored.

"Credit to the guys," Gulf Coast coach Chris Handy said. "They were opportunistic with the chances they had. I didn't think we created that many, but the ones we created we did better than the chances we had against Southwest."

Gulf Coast outscored the opposition 9-1 in the last three games but settles for going 2-0-1 over that stretch after struggling to find the goal in a scoreless draw against Southwest Mississippi on Tuesday.

Nygel Jobe (Fr., Brandon/Brandon) set up the first goal Friday at Bary Thrash Field. He sprung Kade Smith (Fr., London, England/Whitmore) for his fourth goal, which came less than five minutes in.

After ECCC (0-3-1) tied it up with a pinballing goal eight minutes into the second half, Jobe drove powerfully toward goal five minutes later. He got brought down in the box, and Guy Mizrachi (Fr., Haifa, Israel/Ironi Nesher) converted the penalty.

Mills Sheridan (Fr., Brandon/Northwest Rankin) pounced on a rebound in the 73^rd minute, and Hayden Thomas (Fr., Clinton/Clinton) sprinted for a breakaway goal in the final two minutes.

Gulf Coast (2-1-2) will start MACCC play Friday against a familiar foe. The Bulldogs travel to Poplarville to play archrival Pearl River. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

"We get a week of training, which we're looking forward to," Handy said. "We're still a young team, so there are some growing pains. We got some goals after the 0-0 tie; that's a positive thing. We still want to find some more consistency throughout the game."

For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.