POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The Pearl River women’s soccer team earned their first win of the season in their home debut Friday. Jade Shaw (Carriere; Pearl River Central) scored her second goal of the match in the final two minutes to lift the Wildcats to a thrilling 2-1 victory over visiting No. 18 Itawamba.

The visitors were the aggressors early, but the Wildcats (1-1-1) withstood their initial push before cranking up the pressure on ICC (1-2 overall). Although the game remained tied 0-0 through the first 45 minutes, coach Henrik Madsen called it their best soccer of the year. The Wildcats carried it over into a two-goal second half.

“I think the girls finally just settled down after the first 10 or 15 minutes,” he said. “Obviously Itawamba is a very good team so they came out and pressed us and we had a hard time dealing with it. About 20 minutes in they settled in. I thought we played some of the best soccer we have all year.

“In the 2nd half it was getting a little more scrappy but we were moving the ball we just needed a little more quality to finish it off and we got two really good goals from Jade.”

Shaw broke the 0-0 deadlock in the 65^th minute. The PRC product broke in through the left side of the box and went far post with the ball.

“The first couple runs she made it was looking like she wanted to cross the ball and we just told her to go to the goal and score it herself,” Madsen said. “So that first goal she got around the two defenders there and she put it in with her left foot.”

Tylee McCann (Leakesville; Greene County) almost put PRCC up 2-0 in the 75^th minute as they continued to take the action to the visitors. McCann caught a pass at the top of the box, turned and sent a left-footed shot clanking off the right iron.

Although ICC tying the match 1-1 in the 81^st minute was initially deflating for the Wildcats after withstanding amplified pressure from the Indians, Shaw found the equalizer in the 88^th minute. Aubrie Edwards (Biloxi) broke in on goal on the right side of the box and put a shot on goal. The shot traveled through the box and Shaw crashed the back post, knocking the ball into the net.

“That was a really good play from Aubrie to get around her player,” Madsen said. “I thought the keeper made a nice save but we followed it up.”

The Wildcats almost gave up another equalizer moments after the restart but Azaria Breaux (Gulfport) dashed out of her net and turned away an ICC chance for her sixth save of the night.
“She saved the game right there,” Madsen said. “I thought she did well and did her job.”

In the 48^th minute Breaux made another big save, turning away a deflected shot from point-blank range to keep the game scoreless at the time.

NEXT UP

The Wildcats are back in action Monday when they host Jones College for the annual “Cat Fight” on the pitch. The women will kickoff at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast for free atPRCCMedia.com.

Fans who have a Roku or Fire device can also tune in by downloading the Pearl River CC channel from their app store.