No. 6 Bulldogs are playoff-bound
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College () | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|
Holmes Community College () | 0 | 0 | 0 |
No. 6 Mississippi Gulf Coast clinched a men's soccer playoff spot Tuesday by blanking Holmes 3-0 in Ridgeland.
"It's a tough place to play at 3 o'clock in the afternoon," Bulldogs coach Chris Handy said. "Overall, we were OK. We probably could have had a little more urgency in the first half. We needed another goal to max out the goal differential, but this late in the year, we'll take our win and our shutout."
Gulf Coast improved to 10-2-3 overall, 6-1-2 in the MACCC. They remain in third place in the standings.
Bryon Shepard (So., Gulfport/St. Patrick) opened the scoring with his second goal of the season. It came in the 31st minute from the first of two assists on the day from Jasintho Wielders (Fr., Krimpen aan den Ijssel, Netherlands/Zadkine College).
"He was the first one off the bench," Handy said. "Part of it is he has a way of scoring in these types of games. He's scored in big goals in games we didn't expect him to. He's got a knack for it. He can score goals in games where he doesn't get a lot of minutes."
Victor Moerck (So., Vaerlose, Denmark/Lyngby Handelsgymnasium) doubled the lead in the first minute of the second half. It was his 11th goal of the year and was set up by Mills Sheridan (So., Flowood/Northwest Rankin).
It was 3-0 in the 53rd minute after Alexander Mink (Fr., Long Beach/Long Beach) was set up by Wielders. Mink has three goals.
"We had a lot of chances," Handy said. "Holmes fought till the end and got themselves in front of a lot of shots we took, but in the end, we weren't clinical enough in front of goal."
Holmes is now 2-8-1, 1-8.
The Bulldogs travel to Scooba on Friday to play their second of three straight road games to close out the regular season. Kickoff against East Mississippi is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Gulf Coast will finish the regular season next Tuesday with a trip to Jones.
For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
