ELLISVILLE – The No. 9 Jones College men's soccer team opened postseason play with a dominant 5-0 victory over Copiah-Lincoln Friday night in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament quarterfinals at The Bobcat Soccer Field.
The Bobcats carried a 1-0 advantage into halftime before exploding for four goals over the final 45 minutes to improve to 16-1-2 and advance to the Region 23 semifinals. Jones finished with a 21-8 advantage in shots and put 15 attempts on goal.
"I thought we started the game well," Head coach Brendan Connolly said. "I was a little bit disappointed with how we finished the half, so we reiterated the importance of a climb of energy at halftime. In the second half, I thought it was one of our best halves of the season."
Connolly also pointed to the continued development of the Bobcats' young attacking group as a major reason for the late-season surge.
"We've got four really good freshman forwards in Calvin, Lyle, Sam and Louie," Connolly said. "It takes them to this part of the season to really figure it out and get consistent. Now they've all scored in the last two games. That's really exciting going into the postseason."
FIRST HALF
Jones generated the better of the chances early and eventually found its breakthrough in the 20th minute.
Braden Buchanan (Madison; Madison Central) set up Calvin Harrison (Hernando), who converted to give the Bobcats a 1-0 advantage.
The Bobcats produced eight shots in the opening 45 minutes compared to five for Co-Lin but were unable to add to the lead before halftime.
SECOND HALF
Jones wasted little time creating separation after the break.
Harrison struck for his second goal of the night in the 57th minute, finishing off an assist from Harry Guess (Milton Keynes, England; Northampton Town FC) to double the Bobcat advantage.
The lead grew to 3-0 in the 70th when Mario Novaku (Wolverhampton, England; Codsall Community HS) found Buchanan, who followed up his first-half assist with a goal of his own.
Jones continued to pile on over the closing stages.
Novaku recorded his second assist in the 80th minute, setting up Louie Fitzpatrick (Wigan, England; St. Peter's) for the fourth goal of the night.
Fitzpatrick struck again six minutes later, this time off an assist from Dawson Dykes (Petal), to finish the 5-0 victory.
The Bobcats outshot Co-Lin 13-3 in the second half and put eight attempts on target after the break.
UP NEXT
The Bobcats return to action Wednesday, Nov. 4 against Meridian in Poplarville for the Region 23 Semifinals. Tickets are available at
prccathletics.com/Tickets. The match will also be livestreamed at
prccmedia.com/gold.
