Women’s Soccer opens season Aug. 23

PERKINSTON — New Mississippi Gulf Coast women's soccer coach Aaron Avila will send his squad out for its first regular-season game against its archrival on Aug. 23.

The Bulldogs will travel to Poplarville to play Pearl River in a non-conference game that starts at 7 p.m. Their first home game will be MACCC opener against Hinds on Sept. 16.

Season tickets are on sale now at http://mgcccbulldogs.com/tickets. They cost $35 for adults and $25 for youth, plus ticketing fees. The full schedule can be found at https://mgcccbulldogs.com/sports/wsoc/2022-23/schedule.

Gulf Coast plays three exhibition games prior to that opener, including a scrimmage against Southern Miss at Perkinston on Aug. 18. New assistant coach Carly Mauldin has joined the Bulldogs staff after coaching at USM the last two seasons.

The MACCC has changed its regular-season and playoff format for 2022. Divisions have been eliminated, and the conference championship will be determined by the winner of a 10-game round-robin schedule. The men's champion will host the NJCAA Gulf District tournament and advance directly to the semifinals. The teams that finish second through seventh will play in quarterfinals hosted by the higher-seeded team.

Quarterfinals will be played Oct. 30, with the semifinals on Nov. 4 and the championship on Nov. 6.

The district champion receives an automatic berth in the NJCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship in Tucson, Ariz., which starts Nov. 14.

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.