RAYMOND, Miss. — Pearl River's remarkable season under first-year head coach Henrik Madsen came to a close Monday as the Wildcats fell to Itawamba 2-0 in the MACJC semifinals.
The tournament is being hosted by Hinds at a rain soaked Tom Shepherd Field.
Pearl River's best early scoring opportunity came in the 22nd minute when K.K. Snyder (Leakesville; Greene County) sent a long ball over ICC's back line. The Indian defender slipped, allowing Zigi Ahortor (Accra, Ghana) to break in on goal, but a second defender caught up to the Wildcat and cleared the ball away.
ICC broke in on goal minutes later but Paige Horsnell (London, England) turned the shot away.
Horsnell came up big again in the 35th minute, stopping a shot through a crowd.
The Wildcats (8-4-2 overall) raced the other way and had a golden opportunity but Ahortor's shot was turned away by the Itawamba keeper.
SECOND HALF
The second half was largely played around midfield early on. PRCC's first scoring chance in the second frame came about 56 minutes in when Maddie Beets (Long Beach) unleashed a shot at a sharp angle that was caught by ICC's keeper.
Itawamba broke through in the 70th minute as the Indians charged down the right side and sent a crossing pass through the goal mouth for a tap-in.
The Wildcats failed to get any consistent pressure on the ICC keeper in the final 20 minutes as Itawamba kept play in PRCC's end. With Pearl River pushing numbers up field to get an equalizer late, ICC (17-3) scored its second goal in the 90th minute.
Horsnell finished the match with five saves.
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Patrick Ochs
Pearl River Community College
Director of Marketing & Communications