Holmes, Pearl River to square off in Region 23/Gulf South District Tournament semifinals Thursday

RIDGELAND --- The Holmes Community College Lady Bulldogs are set to open the NJCAA Region 23/Gulf South District Tournament semifinals on Thursday at Jones College in Ellisville.

Holmes, now 14-3-2 on the season, finished the regular season 13-3-2 and 8-1-2 in the MACCC and will go into the tournament as the No. 2 seed. Holmes defeated Co-Lin last Saturday, 3-0, in the quarterfinals. Holmes will face the No. 3 seed Pearl River Lady Wildcats at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Pearl River, now 11-3-2 on the season, finished the regular season 10-3-2 and 8-2-1 in the MACCC. The Lady Wildcats defeated Gulf Coast, 3-1, on Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Holmes is ranked No. 5 in the NJCAA Division II Women's Soccer poll while Pearl River is No. 10.

Northwest is the No. 1 seed and will play the No. 4 seed Itawamba at 11 a.m. on Thursday in the other semifinal. Northwest is No. 1 in the NJCAA poll while Itawamba is No. 19. The two winners are scheduled to meet on Saturday at 2 p.m. for the championship in Ellisville. In case of inclement weather, the match may move to Tatum Park in Hattiesburg and the game time will be 4 p.m.

The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Wildcats faced each other on Oct. 4 and the match ended in a 2-2 draw.

Leaders for the Lady Bulldogs include: Kristen Phillips (West Lauderdale) with 49 points (19 goals, 11 assists), Bailee Fairley (West Lauderdale) with 34 points (13 goals, eight assists), Olivia Tribolet (Madison Central) with 20 points (eight goals, 4 assists), Kaylee Avant (Newton County) with 19 points (seven goals, five assists) and Brooklynn Samonski (Nottingham, N.J.) with 17 points (seven goals, three assists).

Addi Roberts (Jackson Academy) and Katie Smith (Clarkdale) split time in goal for the Lady Bulldogs. Roberts finished with 44 saves while Smith had 21.

Holmes scores 4.21 goals per match and gives up one goal per match.

Leaders for Pearl River include: Frederikke Nielson (Randers, Denmark) with 32 points (13 goals, six assists), Abby Badurak (Gulfport) with 24 points (11 goals, two assists), Holly Jones (Liverpool, England) with 23 points (five goals, 13 assists), and Haylie Alavarez (Gulfport) with 20 points (seven goals, six assists).

Natasza Koper (Warsaw, Poland) and Kennedy Harris (Biloxi) both saw time in goal. Koper finished with 43 saves while Harris had eight.

Pearl River scores 3.67 goals per match and gives up 1.13 goals per match.