No. 19 MGCCC faces ICC in semis

PERKINSTON — No. 19 Mississippi Gulf Coast is riding a five-game win streak into the MACJC semifinals Saturday, where they will play an unfamiliar Itawamba team.

The teams haven't played since an early season matchup in 2016, which the Bulldogs won 2-0.

"Mike (Sullivan) runs a good program," Gulf Coast coach Chris Handy said. "It's always good to line up against somebody who is going to treat the game right. It'll be a fair contest, and I think it will be a fun game."

Handy's team won't have played for more than a week, having beaten Holmes 5-3 on Oct. 20 to improve to 12-2. Itawamba, the North No. 2 seed, is 9-6-1 after beating Southwest 2-1 Wednesday.

The Indians' leading scorer is Alexis Resendiz with 13 goals. His brother, Brayan, has four goals for Gulf Coast.

"That'll be fun for him and fun for us," said Handy.

The Bulldogs haven't lost to an MACJC team since Hinds beat them in the 2016 state finals. They'll be trying to keep that streak going Saturday, looking for a chance at redemption Sunday in the finals.

"We just want to have fun, be ourselves," Handy said. "We want to play well and play mistake-free soccer at the back. It's been a couple games since we've done that."

Gulf Coast is the only school with both teams qualifying for the final fours.

MACJC Tournament Schedule

Saturday

11 a.m. – Men's semifinal: North No. 1 East Central vs. South No. 2 Pearl River

1 p.m. – Men's semifinal: South No. 1 Gulf Coast vs. North No. 2 Itawamba

3 p.m. – Women's semifinal: North No. 1 Holmes vs. North No. 3 Northwest

5 p.m. – Women's semifinal: South No. 1 Jones County vs. South No. 3 Gulf Coast

Sunday

1 p.m. – Men's finals

4 p.m. – Women's finals

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