No. 6 Bulldogs fail to advance after PKs

PHOTO BY RICHARD GLEBER/PRCC

ELLISVILLE — No. 6 Mississippi Gulf Coast and No. 10 Pearl River have played 290 minutes of dead even soccer this season.

The Wildcats advanced to the NJCAA Gulf South District championship game by prevailing in penalties after a 1-1 tie following two scoreless overtime sessions in Thursday's semifinal.

"The boys played hard," Bulldogs coach Chris Handy said. "They showed up and executed the game plan. We were unlucky a little bit in the final third. Defensively we were pretty good all night long. It just didn't go our way."

The Bulldogs (12-2-5) and Wildcats (12-4-4) each made their first five penalty kicks before Gulf Coast's sixth hit the crossbar. PRCC converted their sixth despite Bulldogs keeper David Ruiz Ospina (So., Manizales, Colombia/Gimnasio del Pacifico) getting a hand on the last two.

Gulf Coast now has to hope for an at-large bid to the NJCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship in Huntsville, Ala. Pearl River will play host Jones at 5 p.m. Saturday with the winner automatically qualifying. Eight district champs advance, with four more spots up for grabs.

The Bulldogs are 3-1-4 against teams in the top 14 of the final national rankings.

"The main thing is we've been pretty consistent," Handy said. "We've played one of the toughest schedules in the country. We have as many ranked wins as anybody. We're a good team that deserves to play on the national stage."

Luke Hopkins (So., Clinton/Clinton) put Gulf Coast on the board first. Neko Worthy (Fr., St. Martin/St. Martin) sprinted down the left wing and whizzed a cross into the box and Hopkins flicked in the 39^th minute.

Hopkins, who is still getting back into shape after missing a chunk of games in the middle of the season, was a force in the air all night and helped the Bulldogs immensely in the midfield.

"He just wants to win so badly," Handy said. "He fights really hard for us. I really do appreciate how hard he worked today. I'm glad he was able to get on the scoresheet."

Pearl River equalized five minutes into the second half, and that closed out the scoring. The teams had a pair of 2-2 ties during the regular season, and it was the sixth straight season the schools met in the playoffs.

The national tournament will be played Nov. 17-23 in Huntsville, Ala. The field will be announced Monday.

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.