Gulf South Conference

All things considered, Kevin Johns isn’t shocked that his Mississippi College men’s soccer team clinched the Gulf South Conference regular-season championship – in its first season of eligibility – on a scoreless draw.

“We felt like we had a good team coming in, felt like we could be really competitive. We felt we’d have chances to score, but we had to be able to defend as a team, and we felt if we did that, we’d be successful and have a chance to win more games than we’d lose,” Johns said after the Choctaws bounced back from a 1-0 loss on Oct. 21 at Lee to force a 0-0 deadlock at Shorter on Sunday.

The two outcomes pushed MC (9-2-2, 7-1-1 GSC) two games ahead of Shorter, West Florida and West Alabama in the win column, clinching the top spot for the upcoming league tournament that begins with opening-round games on Tuesday at higher seeds before semifinal play moves to the Mississippi College campus on Friday. MC had taken an eight-game winning streak into the road weekend, a span during which the Choctaws had outscored their foes 28-6.

“That’s probably the worst we’ve played, but we lost 1-0 and tied 0-0 and we had chances in both those,” Johns said. We had our chances against Lee and we had our chances against Shorter.

“Our guys knew what we needed to do. We obviously would like to have won the (Shorter) game, but … by the time we got into overtime, we knew all we needed was a tie. We probably stopped playing a little bit, played more not to lose than to win.”

Defense has been a strong suit for MC in large part because of the presence of junior goalkeeper Humberto Pelaez. The scoreless tie against Shorter helped him earn GSC Defender of the Week honors for the fifth time this year and the second time in as many weeks, and marked his sixth shutout of the season.

“As long as we defend well, we’re going to be in games, and it doesn’t hurt when you have a goaltender like Humberto,” Johns said. “He has to be one of the best in Division II in the country. In our conference he certainly is. He obviously does a lot for our team.”

The Choctaws have hardly been a one-man team, though. Senior midfielders Graham Bobo and Sergio Garcia have been the squad’s “heart and soul”, according to Johns, and freshman Ben Roberts has helped solidify the backline while Jorge Delgado provided some early offensive punch.

“We’re not that much better than we were last year,” Johns said. “We were just a little bit more on the right side of things, the ball bounced our way a little more this year.

“Quite a few guys have done a lot that has allowed us to be successful.”

The payoff for that success has been staying at home next weekend, rather than traveling for the league tourney.

“It’s nice for the guys to be rewarded for the hard work they’ve put in,” Johns said. “Being able to host is a big bonus – the kids are comfortable, sleeping in their own beds, friends and family members can come watch ‘em play.”

And Johns admits his feelings aren’t hurt by the fact that four of the tourney participants still have to determine their seedings this weekend.

“I’m fine if those two games (this weekend) both want to go into overtime,” he said. “And Tuesday, if they want to go into overtime, I’m fine with that. I’ll support that decision 100 percent.”