The Meridian Community College men’s soccer team showed its potential in a big early season contest, raising hopes of a successful spring season for the Eagles.

MCC traveled to No. 5-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Monday and came away with a 2-1 win thanks to a strong defensive effort and goals by Miguel Vazquez and Victor Campos. It gave the Eagles (2-2) positive momentum and something to build upon, and head coach Sam Wilson said his squad has the potential to put together a strong season if it plays with the same effort it did Monday.

Soccer is normally a fall sport in the MACCC, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the association to delay the season until the spring, and Wilson said expectations had to be adjusted when the team’s normal routine was upended.

“Initially with our fall group we thought we would have a really strong roster,” Wilson said. “We had about 25 rosters and were very deep, but by the time we got to the spring season we were down to 19 players, so it’s a lot more limited as far as what we can do. Overall, to go to a place like Gulf Coast and get a victory over a good team like that, we were very thrilled.”

The game showed Wilson that his team has promise, and he’s eager to see whether or not they can maintain that type of effort every game.

“Overall our togetherness stood out,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t one person winning the game for us by any means. It was a collective (effort) of 11 guys behind the ball playing really, really good defense for 90 minutes. I certainly think defensively we can be a team that has shutouts or gives up only one or two goals a game. Offensively I think we have the firepower to go out and outscore anyone in the league.”

Sophomore defender Nolan Yates, a Northeast Lauderdale alumnus, said he was expecting a low-scoring game against Gulf Coast, and it was important for them to maintain their composure, especially when the Bulldogs scored a goal in the 79th minute to cut a 2-0 MCC lead in half.

“We knew it would be a tough game, as you can tell from the score,” Yates said. “We knew we had to come in and work hard, and it felt like we did that. We just knew we had to stick to our training. We defended hard at the very end of the game, and we ended up pulling through.”

Teammate Chap Pope, also a Northeast Lauderdale graduate, said it took some time for the team to hit its stride against Gulf Coast, but once it did their collective effort was rewarded.

“Going in we were confident but not 100% there are first,” Pope said. “Once it started and we got in a groove, we locked it down.”

With such a big win, Yates said he hopes it’s a sign of more good things after a weird school year in which their fall was nothing but scrimmages.

“It’s kind of a hassle at times,” Yates said. “COVID has thrown everything in a bind. The good thing about this is we’ve had plenty of extra time for training, so we’ve come out here in the spring and have a great team.”

To make up for not having any games, Pope said the team spent as much time practicing as possible, which allowed them to bond.

“We just did all we could to try to get better as a team and get to know each other more,” Pope said. “We all get along, we just got tired of playing against each other after so long.”

If everything goes right, Yates said he’s expecting them to accomplish their ultimate goal.

“State championship,” Yates said with a smile.

The Eagles returned to action Friday against Copiah-Lincoln Community and will play at Pearl River Community College next Tuesday.