Gulf Coast pummels Meridian 5-0

PERKINSTON – Mississippi Gulf Coast has been prolific offensively this season. It's been at the other end where the Bulldogs have struggled.

Tuesday night at home, the men's soccer team got its first shutout of the season, blanking Meridian 5-0.

"The goal was to get a zero, and we accomplished that for the first time all season," Gulf Coast head coach Chris Handy said. "That was huge. We want to build on that and continue to polish things up there.

"I think we're always going to have opportunities to score, but the entire team needs to defend together. For the most part, we did that tonight."

Gulf Coast improved to 5-2 overall, and 3-1 in the MACJC South with one game left in the first round of games. The Bulldogs entertain Southwest on Saturday.

Meridian falls to 1-6, 0-4.

Four different Bulldogs scored, with Gio Freitas getting two. He opened the scoring 13 minutes in after a scramble following a corner.

"It was a cross and I went up for the header," said Freitas, who has five goals this season. "The defender saved it on the line, so I just kept going. Luckily the ball bounced back to me and I hit it with my right foot."

Juan Salazar drew a penalty in the dying minutes of the first half, then converted it for a 2-0 halftime lead.

Freitas got his second two minutes on the other side of the break, the beneficiary of a looping ball played in by Arnel Dujkovic.

"Arnel was on the right side and he swung a beautiful cross in," Freitas said. "I jumped up and had good timing and I got lucky. It went in in the upper corner. It was a great goal thanks to the beautiful cross by Arnel."

James Beattie got his seventh goal of the season with 24:24 left, cleaning up a rebound in front of goal. Josh Palm got his 13 minutes later on another rebound to close out the scoring.