By Staff
From Staff Reports/The Meridian Star
Nov. 11, 2001
HOUSTON Meridian Community College scored two goals early to take the pressure off its defense and then went on to take a 3-1 win in the finals of the Mid-Southwest District Tournament here on Saturday afternoon.
The win puts the Eagles, now 17-2-2 on the season, into the NJCAA Division I Soccer Tournament, which begins in Tyler, Texas on Thursday.
Clements said the fact that eight-or-nine freshmen have been among the starting 11 all year was also a big plus.
The Eagles, the defending National Champions and ranked No. 4 in the country by the NJCAA, will open defense of their titles on Thursday against Johnson County (Kan.) College.
Meridian scored two goals in the first 20 minutes against host San Jacinto, which got into the finals with a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Richland (Texas) College in the semifinals on Friday.
That happened to MCC in the semifinals on Friday, when the Eagles dominated Northern Oklahoma, but found themselves in a 0-0 tie for the first 70 minutes of the match. MCC got a goal late to win 1-0.
Meridian went up 1-0 when Mahlon Sullivan cranked in a 25-yarder that blew into the upper right-hand corner of the net just 15 minutes into the match.
Five minutes later Sullivan headed in a goal off a redirected shot by Garthfield Whyte to make it 2-0.
San Jac didn't give up, cutting it to 2-1 with 25 minutes left in the match.
But Meridian came right back to score three minutes later on a nice touch shot by Whyte that floated over the keeper's head from 18 yards out.