River soccer still perfect with Southwest shutouts in South Division openers

POPLARVILLE – Pearl River Community College”s Lady Wildcat and Wildcat soccer squads remain undefeated after a pair of MACJC South Division-opening shutouts over Southwest Mississippi here Saturday.PRCC”s women opened the action with a 6-0 blowout over the Lady Bears to improve to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in division play, while its men took a 4-0 victory and are now 5-0 and 1-0. SMCC”s women dropped to 1-2 and 0-1, while its men are now 1-1-1 and 0-1.In women”s action, the Lady Wildcats seemed stagnant in the first half, managing an uncharacteristic 1-0 edge at the intermission off a goal by Santana Adams of Hurley (East Central High) 14 minutes into the contest.And in the second half, it took PRCC nearly 25 minutes to get on track. Adams scored her second goal at the with 21:14 left before Ashlee Arnau of Oak Grove High followed with The River”s third goal about three-and-a-half minutes later.Some six minutes later, the Lady Wildcats seemingly scored at will; putting up the game”s final three scores over a nine-and-a-half-minute span.Jordan Organ of Forrest County AHS scored at the 9:32 mark, Tanya Blas-Cruz of Yoma, Guam, at the 5:12 mark, and Heather Smith of Oak Grove High with 1:51 left.In the men”s game, sophomore midfielder Tyler Szura led the way with three goals – including the first half”s only score at the 37:07 mark – then kicked in two straight at the 37:13 and 22:18 point of the second half to make it 3-0. Curtis Sangbarani of Aberdeen, Scotland, scored the game”s final goal with 19:05 left.It”s more South Division action for The River when it visits arch-rival Jones County in Ellisville Tuesday for 2 p.m. (women) and 4 p.m. (men) contests. After a six-day layoff, North Division foe Hinds visits Monday, Sept. 20, for games at the same game times.