No. 10 Bulldogs shut out No. 6 Wildcats

Mississippi Gulf Coast won a top-10 men's soccer showdown Monday night, and in doing so handed archrival Pearl River its first loss, a 2-0 defeat on its home field in Poplarville.

"It's always going to be an important game," Gulf Coast coach Chris Handy said. "We have another game scheduled against them, and we usually play them three times a year. It's fun. It's always competitive; it's always a bit different compared to normal games. After these games, you're always talking about something more than just the soccer."

The No. 10 Bulldogs (6-2, 3-2 MACCC South) got two goals from Christian Inchima (So., Brampton Ontario/St. Edmond Campion) to move within a game of the No. 6 Wildcats (7-1, 4-1). Gulf Coast is tied with Jones at 3-2 for second in the division.

Inchima was left alone at the top of the box in the second minute following a corner, and he didn't err. He scored again on a counter in the 39th minute to add some insurance.

"We scored early and that was huge," Handy said. "We got the second one which gave us our safety, and then at the end, we're just battling to keep it 2-0. Give credit to the boys because they worked hard and took care of business. It's definitely a big win that we needed."

It wasn't an easy ride the final 45 minutes. Pearl River hit the crossbar twice in a two-minute span midway through the second half. There was another with 20 minutes to play.

The Wildcats played with 10 men the final eight minutes after a red card, which eased the pressure a little. It was still stressful until the final minute.

"They hit the posts at least three times," Handy said. "We've been on the other side of that. It felt like that against Meridian, where we had chances and couldn't finish and lost the game. They had the better chances, for sure. We'll have to go back and figure out whether we were trying to protect the lead or whether we need to make adjustments. Right now, we're just going to take our win and move on to Meridian, which is another big game."

Gulf Coast travels to Meridian on Thursday for the first game of the second half of the divisional schedule. The men will kick off at 5 p.m.

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