By Staff
JUMPING IN THERE MCC's Benton Dufour cuts off Jones' Brantley Fryfogle during the Eagle's win over the Bobcats. Photo by Paula Merritt / The Meridian Star
By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
Sept. 22, 2002
The Lady Eagles of Meridian Community College got a big goal from Cheri R. Wilson with 15 minutes left in the game and held on to beat the visiting Jones County Junior College Lady Bobcats in Juco soccer action on Saturday morning.
In the other game, the Meridian men overpowered Jones and took an easy 10-1 victory.
With the wins, both teams move to 2-0 in district play. The women are now 4-2 on the season while the men are 3-2.
In the women's game, the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but Jones came back to tie the game up in the second half. MCC kept fighting hard and finally got the game-winning goal later in the second half.
Jones threatened to take the lead early in the game. Mary Sorrells passed to Brittney Smith, who found Christie Hathorn with a nice pass. The ball bounced on Hathorn a little and it went off of her shin guard and to goalie Charlsie Bufkin to end the Lady Bobcat threat.
A mistake by the Lady Eagle defense allowed Shauna Craig to break free later in the half for Jones. Craig found space along the right side of the field and took a shot that went just wide of the goal.
Meridian came back to have a couple of scoring chances in the half. The Lady Eagles were able to finish one of their opportunities with 6:40 left in the half. Lindsey Key broke free behind the Lady Bobcat defense for a one-on-one opportunity with the goalie. Her shot went into the right side of the goal and MCC took a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, Wilson got loose on a breakaway but her shot was saved by the Jones keeper.
Jones came back to tie the game with a goal with 31:50 left in the game. Ashley Hughes took a free kick from just outside of the box on the right side of the field for Jones. The shot went high and over the keeper and into the goal to make the score 1-1.
The ball remained in the middle of the field for most of the second half, but Wilson got a breakaway opportunity with 15:30 left to play. Lisa Needler made a great pass to Wilson, who beat the keeper with a shot into the right side of the goal to make the score 2-0.
Jones tried to get the tying goal late in the game, but the Meridian defense held strong. The best chance for the Lady Bobcats came with less than a minute to play. A great cross by Hughes went to Sorrells, but was just a little high and Sorrells was unable to get a head on it.
The Lady Eagles keep Jones out of the goal and picked up the big victory over the Lady Bobcats. The MCC women will be in action next week when they host Gulf Coast.
Meridian men 10
Jones 1
Brandon Rodgers scored four goals and Benton Dufour scored two goals in the first half as the Eagles pounded Jones 10-1 on Saturday morning.
John Irby also scored two goals in the second half to help Meridian take the victory.
The Eagles will have an important week as they host East Central on Wednesday and then host Gulf Coast on Saturday.
Rodgers got the scoring started with a goal about 10 minutes into the game. Brian Bledsoe fed him with a great cross and the his header bounced off the crossbar and went in to make the score 1-0.
Rodgers scored his second goal of the game on a pass from Dufour to make the score 2-0.
Jones came back to cut the lead to 2-1 when Jeremy Young broke free behind the Eagled defense. His shot was saved by charging keeper Chris Duncan, but the ball popped loose and Young put the ball into the open net while he was on the ground.
Rodgers added his third goal of the game with 19 minutes left in the half. He got a pass from Bledsoe on the left side of the field and beat the keeper for the hat trick.
Dufour scored after making a great move in the box to get some space to make the score 4-1. He added another goal later in the half with a left-footed shot on a breakaway.
Rodgers finished off the first-half scoring with his fourth goal of the game. Kyle Boykin passed to Andrew Culpepper, but a defender stepped in to knock the ball away. The ball went straight to Rodgers who finished the play with a shot into the right side of the goal.
Brian Stringer added a goal in the second half when his shot bounced around in front of the net and finally rolled in to make the score 7-1. Irby scored two goals later in the half. His first goal came on a pass from Dufour and his second came on a pass by Bledsoe. Irby was able to dribble by the keeper and put away both goals to make the score 9-1.
The final goal of the game came when Clifton Marshall blasted a shot into the right side of the goal to make the final 10-1.