By Staff
GOING AROUND Meridian Community College's Joseph Murphy (11) shields the ball as he turns away from East Central Community College's Ryan Stewart in the Eagles' game against the Warriors on Sept. 13. MCC will take on Hinds Community College in the first round of the Region 23 tournament Saturday. Photo by Kyle Carter/The Meridian Star
By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
Oct. 24, 2003
Meridian Community College head soccer coach Alex George has no doubts where his team's minds will be when it takes the field in the Region 23 Tournament on Saturday.
The second-year Eagles coach said his squad will be solely focused on the team across the pitch at Hinds Community College.
George's confidence in his team's ability to focus on one opponent at a time stems from the result of the Eagles' second to last game of the regular season.
MCC (14-1-3) suffered its only loss of the year to Pearl River Community College, the No. 1-seed from the South Division, on Oct. 17.
The Eagles dropped to the second seed in the South with the loss, and the players learned a valuable lesson against PRCC.
MCC didn't just regain its focus when it fell to PRCC, the Eagles also received a valuable lesson about staying within their game plan.
MCC fell behind PRCC 4-0 in the opening half of the match on the road, and the Eagles had to play catch up through out the game.
On Saturday, the Eagles will line up against an opponent that came dangerously close to defeating MCC. Hinds narrowly lost to the Eagles 2-1 on Aug. 27.
The Eagles are scheduled to start their game against Hinds at 8 p.m. Saturday. If MCC defeats Hinds, the team will play at 6 p.m. Sunday for the Region 23 title against the winner of the PRCC/Northwest Community College.