Lady Bulldogs explode for six against Southwest

PERKINSTON – Mississippi Gulf Coast doubled its previous offensive output Saturday in demolishing Southwest 6-0.

The Lady Bulldogs had netted three goals in their first seven games, but got a hat trick from Moriah Minnis and two goals from Abigail Smith to trounce the Lady Bears.

"It was a nice win for us," Gulf Coast interim head coach Jackie Rhodes said. "I think it's definitely a morale booster.

"I feel like they're going to come out next week with a whole different outlook on the season, which is huge for us. I probably should have subbed a little bit more at the end, but we needed the confidence."

Gulf Coast (2-6, 2-3 MACJC South) returns to action Friday and Saturday with a road trip to a pair of North Division opponents, Itawamba and Northwest.

Southwest falls to 1-7, 1-4.

Minnis opened the scoring three minutes into the game, then scored against in the 35^th minute as the Lady Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

"I think we just played as a team," said Minnis, who now has four goals on the season. "We did what we've been practicing finally. We got it all together and got it going."

Minnis' cross led to the next goal, which caromed off a Southwest defender into her own goal in the 62^nd minute.

Smith scored her first of the season, a beauty from about 10 yards outside the box that clanged in off the bottom of the crossbar with 12 minutes to play. She got her second, nearly identical goal, 10 minutes later.

"It's awesome. It's definitely going to help with our confidence going into the next game," Smith said. "It's exciting to break the seal and get my first goal of the season."

Minnis got one more just before the final buzzer for the final score.