Lady Bulldogs looking toward tough Jones

Mississippi Gulf Coast is coming off its first win of the women's soccer season, a 2-0 blanking of Copiah-Lincoln.

The Lady Bulldogs (1-4, 1-1 MACJC South) will face a much tougher task Friday headed to Jones County.

"They're a high-scoring team that's had a lot of success this year," Gulf Coast interim head coach Jackie Rhodes said. "We're trying to prevent that. We've talked about individual goals as well as team goals, things they can do to help the team."

Jones is undefeated in three games this year, two in the MACJC South. The Lady Bobcats have beaten Hinds, Meridian and Southwest by a combined score of 24-2.

"Friday is going to be a defensive match for us," Rhodes said. "We're going to have stay organized. We changed our defense up a little bit to see if we can have more success over 90 minutes rather than just a half."

Gulf Coast has showed progress the last three times out, losing 2-1 to East Central after a late rally fell short and falling at Pearl River 4-0.

"They're a little bit more confident, I think," Rhodes said. "Playing well in the Pearl River game for the first half, knowing they can compete was good for us. Then we got the win Tuesday, so their morale is higher now."