Hall’s OT winner lifts MGCCC

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast needed 67 seconds of overtime to make up for an uncharacteristically sloppy defensive performance Saturday.

Jordan Hall (So, Manchester, England/Royton and Crompton) scored off an assist from Max Johnson (Fr, Rugby, England/Harris Church of England Academy) to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 win. It extended their win streak to six.

"I think the heat took a toll on the game for both teams, to be honest," Gulf Coast coach Chris Handy said. "We were a little bit off. We weren't moving as well as we usually do, and our system is based on movement."

Gulf Coast is 6-1 and returns to action Friday when Northwest visits for a non-division game. Andrew, from Cuthbert, Ga., falls to 1-3-1.

Johnson floated a ball from the left wing into the near top corner of the box, and Hall pounced for his 17^th goal of the season. It came against a 10-man squad. An Andrew player picked up his second card late in regulation.

Gulf Coast took a 1-0 lead after a through-ball from Johnson sprung C.J. Smith (Fr, Brampton, Ontario/David Suzuki Secondary School) behind the defense. Smith beat the keeper to the ball on the right wing, and his center found Caleb Counselman (So, Pass Christian/Pass Christian) alone for a sliding tap-in with 31 minutes left.

Andrew responded scored a pair of goals in a two-minute span, converting a penalty with 25:12 left and another from the run of play. It broke a streak of five straight shutouts for the Bulldogs and put them in peril.

Gulf Coast answered with a penalty of its own after a hand-ball in the box. Johnson scored with 20:22 left to knot the score at 2.

Hall put the Bulldogs back in front when he was played behind the defense. He cut into the middle and curled one past the keeper with his left foot with 9:53.

Andrew tied it with 4:49 left in the second half on a Gulf Coast own goal.

"We made a few mistakes at the back," Handy said. "That's not something we normally do. We scored the right amount of goals, but giving up three is out of character."

He said he'll use this game as a teaching moment for the squad. Handy asked his forward and attacking midfielder throughout the game to try to stop Andrew's long passes from the back.

"Not enough pressure up top puts more pressure on the back line," he said. "We live and we learn. I think it's a good example for the boys to learn, what happens when you don't play good team defense. We'll build on it."

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