SENATOBIA, Miss. — The No. 11 Pearl River women’s soccer team went toe-to-toe with the No. 1 team in the country Tuesday evening, but Northwest put together an incredible second half to propel itself to a 4-0 win.
“I was happy with the first half. The girls played well and followed the gameplan that we laid out for them,” head coach Henrik Madsen said. “We even created some good chances. Unfortunately, we came out and had a really bad first eight minutes of the second half. They dug back in and kept fighting, so I was happy with that.”
Scoring chances were few and far between for Pearl River (3-2-1 overall; 2-1 MACCC)) in the opening half against Northwest (8-0; 3-0 MACCC), with its best goal-scoring chance coming 12 minutes into the match. Abby Badurak (Gulfport) did a great job moving the ball up the field down the right side and sent a good cross along the ground to a teammate. The Rangers saved the shot attempt.
The Wildcat defense was up to the task in the first half of play, keeping the high-powered NWCC offense off the scoresheet throughout the first 45 minutes.
With 25 minutes left in the first, Natasza Koper (Warsaw, Poland) came up big by diving to her right and punching a shot attempt away. The goalkeeper did it again with two minutes left in the opening half, making a huge save in a one-versus-one situation.
“Natasza was superb,” Madsen said. “She did a good job coming out of the box to catch everything. She even saved a really good one-on-one chance in the first half. I thought she had a really good match in goal.”
Although the teams went into the midway point even, Northwest’s halftime adjustments were too much for the Wildcats. The Rangers scored goals in the 51st, 55th, 62nd, and 87th minutes to propel themselves to a 4-0 win.
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to the PRCC Soccer Complex on Friday for a 5 p.m. match against Meridian.
TICKETING
Tickets are on sale now at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets. Tickets purchased in advance are $8. Tickets purchased on gameday are $10. Season passes can be purchased for $56.
TUNE IN
All Pearl River home soccer games are livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/Gold. Fans who have Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the “Pearl River CC” channel from their app stores.
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