Lady Bulldogs face NWCC again

PERKINSTON — When Mississippi Gulf Coast hits the field Friday against Northwest, it will mark the end of a pretty long stretch having not played an opponent.

"It's a concern," coach Jackie Rhodes said. "We'll be nine days out from our last game. We've been on working a lot on fitness, a lot on effort. It is worrisome, but I think we're going to be fine."

The Lady Bulldogs (3-3-1) play the Lady Rangers (4-2) at 2 p.m. at the MGCCC Soccer Complex. They've had two games canceled since beating Meridian 5-0 on Sept. 13.

Gulf Coast and Northwest have already met once this season. The Lady Bulldogs won 1-0 on Aug. 25 thanks to a goal by Curissa Beatty (Fr., Biloxi/Biloxi).

One of the few pluses to the long layoff has been more time playing on their own field. The soccer teams spent the first three weeks of their preseason playing on the artificial turf at A.L. May Memorial Stadium because of soggy conditions.

Rhodes hopes the extra time will help their goal-scoring efforts.

"We're just looking to work off what we've been doing," she said. "We want to get more players transitioning from defense to offense, getting more people in the box to score goals. We've been attacking with two people instead of six."

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