Revenge was sweet for the No. 12 Pearl River men's soccer team Tuesday night against No. 11 Hinds.
After dropping a tight road match to the Eagles earlier in the season, the Wildcats responded in emphatic fashion at home, rolling past them 5-2 behind a four-goal performance from Emil Corfitzen (Copenhagen, Denmark).
"After the game we played at their place, we were really upset in the moment," head coach Drew Gallant said. "We went back and watched the film and saw that we actually played pretty well in that first match — we just did a few things wrong. We fixed those tactical issues and had a much better result this time around. This is a great win for us."
Corfitzen opened the scoring in the 19th minute, finishing off a low cross from Julian van Rijsdam (Badhoevedorp, Netherlands) with a one-touch strike past the Hinds keeper.
The Wildcats (9-3-1 overall; 7-0-1 MACCC) carried that 1-0 lead into halftime, but Hinds (11-2-1; 5-2-1) stunned the home crowd by equalizing just 34 seconds into the second half.
The celebration didn't last long. Only 20 seconds later, van Rijsdam produced a moment of brilliance, dribbling through five defenders before calmly slotting a shot into the left side of the net to reclaim the lead, 2-1.
"Julian has been great lately," Gallant said. "He had an injury when he got here and had to get used to the physicality of the league. You can see the quality that he has."
Corfitzen extended the advantage to 3-1 in the 50th minute, taking a pass from Oren Doxey (Gulfport; Bay St. Louis), driving into the box and firing a shot across goal and in.
Just one minute later, he completed his hat trick, pouncing on a rebound to make it 4-1.
The Eagles managed to pull one back in the 72nd minute, but the Corfitzen–van Rijsdam connection sealed things in the 81st. Van Rijsdam threaded a perfect through ball between defenders for Corfitzen, who sprinted onto it and delicately chipped the keeper for his fourth goal of the night and 13th of the season, 5-2. The scoreline held for Pearl River, helping PRCC remain unbeaten in MACCC play.
"Emil is just a big-game player," Gallant said. "He shows up when it matters most. He's a major factor every time we play a ranked opponent. That's just who he is."
NEXT UP
Pearl River heads to Itawamba Tuesday for a 3 p.m. matchup against the Indians. The match will be livestreamed at LetsGoICCTV.com.
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