Steede backstops MGCCC to home playoff game

PHOTO BY PATRICK OCHS/PRCC

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast keeper Skyler Steede literally saved the Bulldogs a bus ride this week, backstopping a 1-1 tie against Pearl River to earn a home playoff bid next week.

She made 12 saves, including one in the last second of double overtime to preserve the win.

"I wouldn't say it was our best game, but we did exactly what we had to do to come away playing a home playoff game," Gulf Coast coach Jackie Rhodes said. "Skyler was player of the game. She came up big tonight and made some incredible saves."

Gulf Coast (7-4-2, 6-2-2 MACCC South) needed a win or tie to clinch second place in the division over Pearl River (6-3-4, 5-2-3). It was the teams' second tie of the season after a 2-2 final at Poplarville last month.

The Bulldogs will host North three-seed Northwest Mississippi (6-5, 4-4 North) on Tuesday. The kickoff time hasn't been set.

After a scoreless first half, Ashley Preston (So., Wiggins/Stone) put the Bulldogs up in the 57^th minute. She fought off a Wildcat defender down the left wing, got to the end line and attempted a cross. Preston pounced on a poor clearance and one-timed a curling shot inside the far post that didn't give the keeper a chance.

"I told her when she came off the field that might have been her best shot of the year," Rhodes said. "It was just perfectly hit. She'd been fouled a couple times before that and didn't get a call. I think she'd had enough and just took a swing at it. It was perfectly placed in the corner. It gave us a lot of momentum and carried us through."

It nearly got them to the finish line with a victory, but Pearl River finally converted a corner kick in the 88^th minute to force overtime. Neither team scored in the two 10-minute extra periods, and Gulf Coast celebrated the tie that saved a bus trip.

"We told them at the end of the day, it wasn't necessarily going to be who the better soccer team was," Rhodes said. "It was going to be who was the grittiest and put in the work against the Pearl River team."

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