No. 14 Bulldogs win at No. 12 Eagles

No. 14 Mississippi Gulf Coast opened up defense of its MACCC South championship with a clean sheet Friday, beating No. 12 Meridian 2-0 on the road.

"We were OK," Gulf Coast coach Chris Handy said. "There's things we could have done better, but we're still getting comfortable in a few spots, trying to figure out a few things. In general, we had good chances."

Gulf Coast evened its overall record at 2-2 by handing the Eagles their first loss in four games.

Adam Holland (So., Moss Point/Resurrection) staked Gulf Coast to an early lead by scoring in the sixth minute. It was his first goal of the year, and Klaidas Pudlauskas (Fr., London, England/Gaynes School) picked up his first assist.

"To score early was big," Handy said. "That made them chase the game a little bit, and then we got the one late to solidify the win was good."

Gulf Coast got another international out of the field for his first significant run of the season. Witwise Akyeano (Fr., Milton Keynes, England/St. Paul's Catholic) played at wingback.

"It was great to have Wit out there," Handy said. "And we were able to get Alwayne (Whittaker) out there after he's been struggling a little bit with an injury."

Those two combined for an insurance goal in the 82^nd minute, with Akyeano scoring his first collegiate goal and Whittaker (So., Biloxi/Biloxi) getting his second assist of the year.

"I've seen us do better in some areas," Handy said, "but Meridian's a hard team to play."

Gulf Coast returns to action Tuesday with a trip to No. 4 Jones. Kickoff in Ellisville is set for 7 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.