Women's Soccer | 11/2/2018 1:06:00 PM

ELLISVILLE – The 10^th-ranked Jones College Lady Bobcats face quite a challenge this weekend.
Jones travels to face No. 1-ranked Tyler Junior College (Texas) at 5 p.m. Saturday in the NJCAA South District playoffs at Pat Hartley Field.
But the Lady Bobcats will not be blindsided by the Apaches. Jones played at Tyler on Sept. 22 and dropped a 4-0 decision.
Lady Bobcat head coach Dolores Deasley said that experience should help her team.
"It was not one of our better games," she said. "We did not really know what to expect. But it was good for the girls to be able to see them play and now they know what to expect. I don't think we played with much confidence against them.
"But that was kind of a turning point in our season. We kind of evaluated all over the place after that. Each player self-evaluated about what we needed to do to get better. We have improved a lot since then."
Tyler led 3-0 at halftime before going on to post the win.
Jones is 14-2 on the season, while Tyler is 19-1-1.
The Lady Bobcats have outscored their opponents, 86-10, this season.
The Lady Bobcats have won seven straight contests, including two wins in MACJC Tournament over Pearl River (6-0) and Mississippi Gulf Coast (6-1), and a win in the Region 23 Tournament championship over LSU-Eunice (8-1).
Deasley said the Lady Bobcats are playing their best soccer of the season at the right time.
"Everything has kind of started peaking for us," she said. "That was one of the frustrating things for me during the season. I was wondering when we were going to step up and when things were going to start clicking for us because we had put in a lot of work on the practice field.
"Coming into tournament weekend, it really did click for us. The girls were ready and they were excited and confident. They knew the only team that could beat us was us these past two weekends. The hard work has paid off the last two weekends and they have really started to get the things we have talked to them about. I think that kind of goes with having so many freshmen as well."
Jones has 13 freshmen on its 19-player roster. Tyler has 14 sophomores and 11 foreign players on its 25-player roster.
The Bobcats have been led offensively by Mikayla Banks (Vicksburg), Aimee Durn (London, England), Esmeralda Figueroa (Northeast Jones) and Rachel Barnaby (Derry, Ireland). Banks has 50 points (20 goals, 10 assists), Durn has 47 points (18 goals, 11 assists), Barnaby has 39 points (17 goals, 5 assists) and Figueroa also has 39 points (16 goals, 7 assists).
Alexis Wilson (Long Beach) has been excellent in goal all season.
Deasley said the Lady Bobcats are looking forward to Saturday's match.
"The girls are obviously excited," she said. "Tyler is going to be a tough task. They are the defending national champions for a reason and are currently ranked No. 1 in the country. It will be tough.
"But at the same time, these are the games you want to play. We are excited for the opportunity to play and I think the girls are looking forward to it. We just want to see what we can go and do. The pressure is pretty much on them."
This will be the fifth appearance in an NJCAA district playoff game for the Lady Bobcats.
They lost at Tyler in 2010 and lost to Eastern Florida in 2013, 2016 and 2017. Deasley hopes they can make it past this round and advance to the national tournament.
"The ultimate goal for us is to try and get past that (district playoff) game," she said. "It's tough for us because of where we are geographically. I know nationally we are definitely one of the top 12 teams in the country consistently. I feel like if we could just get past that game, we would represent well in the national tournament. It would be nice to get in there once and see how we fare."
But the Apaches, obviously, will be a formidable foe.
"Tyler will be a tough task and we will need to be on our 'A' game," she said. "We are going to have play our best game we've played all season to give ourselves a chance. I think the girls are well aware of that. We understand what we are up against, but we will go and give it our best shot.
"The one thing I can say about this team is that they believe and they are hungry. They believe they can make history and do something different. We have worked hard this week in preparing for this game and we've had a good week of practice."
The winner of the game will advance to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament Nov. 12-17 in Foley, Alabama. There will be eight district champions and four at-large teams in the national tournament.