SENATOBIA – Despite one of their better efforts to date, the Northwest Mississippi Community College men's soccer team (4-6-2, 1-4) fell 5-1 on Friday night to #11 Pearl River Community College (6-3, 4-0-1).

The Rangers came out strong in the first half, controlling the pace and putting the Wildcats on their heels, holding the visitors without a shot for the opening ten minutes while putting three up themselves, including one on goal that put the keeper to the test early.

Pearl River showed their ability to control the tempo as the game continued and began to slow the pace down, working the ball from their defensive line and up the sidelines and broke through with the opening goal of the game in the 30^th minute when Camden Hayes finished a deflected save by Jacob Little and took advantage of the Ranger goalie being out of position to put the Wildcats up 1-0.

That was followed 11 minutes later with a second goal on a cross that just made it over the outstretched arms of Little and was finished behind him to make the score 2-0.

Northwest didn't wait to get an answer back, finding energy after the goal and immediately marching down the field where Tyler Starnes found room to cross the ball from the endline to Tendai Machingura for a header which slipped past Pearl River's goalie to cut the lead to 2-1 going into halftime.

The energy from Northwest continued into the early second half where they once again came out controlling the tempo with an aggressive attack, but Pearl River took advantage and was able to counterattack in the 55^th minute with a quick pair of passes setting up Julian van Rijsdam for a 3-1 lead.

Both sides settled into a battle for the midfield for much of the next 20 minutes until the Pearl River slow build once again found success. Another quick set of passes set up a fourth goal from Drew Rumery that sealed the match in the 81^st minute to make it 4-1.

The Rangers pushed hard to try and answer back and found some very impressive opportunities late that were just foiled by timely defense and saves. The pressure being put forward opened one more attack from Pearl River in the final 30 seconds when they broke free for a one-on-one with Little that found a way past the keeper to change the final tally to 5-1.

Northwest showed their ability to challenge a top team with their effort, and the numbers showed in the box score if not in the final result. The Rangers attempted 15 shots in the game and put eleven of them on goal.

Little finished the game with eleven saves in the game spread evenly with five in the first half and six in the second.

Northwest will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to East Central Community College for an 8:00 pm match in Decatur. They will return home on the 10^th for a faceoff with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College scheduled for 6:00 pm at the Ranger Soccer Complex.

More information on the full Northwest schedule and more can be found at nwccrangers.com or by following Ranger social media accounts.