By By Austin Bishop/The Meridian Star
TYLER, Texas For the first time all season, the Eagles of Meridian Community College found themselves being tested on a sloppy soccer field on Thursday afternoon.
Consider that first test passed, as MCC adjusted to the sloppy footing at Pat Hartley Field on the campus of Tyler Junior College to take a 4-1 win over Essex (N.J.) County College in the first round of the NJCAA 2000 Division I Men's Soccer Tournament.
But just in case, MCC coaches Steve Clements and Danny Perez took a little extra caution.
State Fair, which went on to win the NJCAA title, beat Meridian 2-0.
The Eagles said once they got adjusted, things were fine.
While the field was expected to be in better condition for today's second round, the bad weather is predicted to return for Sunday's final round of action.
MCC, now 22-1 on the season, has been dominant at times, but the field conditions evened things up a little against the Wolverines of Essex.
Austin Bishop is a sports correspondent for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at bishops@mississippi.net.