POPLARVILLE — Heading into Saturday's quarterfinal match in the Region 23 Postseason Tournament, the No. 6 seed Bears knew that they matched up well with the No. 3 seed Pearl River Wildcats. In the previous two matches in the 2023 regular season, Southwest came away with a win and a tie. 
 
And despite getting locked into a battle with the host Wildcats and forcing overtime, the Bears could not pull it out in the end, falling 2-1, thus ending their 2023 campaign. 
 
"Fighting like they did and being up like they were, and really I don't know the numbers, but I think that we had more shots and shots on goal which is an amazing feeling but unfortunately we came up on the wrong side tonight," Southwest head coach Zach Mills said.
 
The Bears (7-6-4) made the first statement in the 6^th minute when Sergio Padin sent a beautiful shot from about 30 yards out past the goalkeeper putting Southwest up 1-0.
 
That score stayed true for the remainder of the first half.
 
However, in the second, Pearl River appeared to have new life. The Wildcats presented a much more aggressive style and it proved to be beneficial as they pulled even in the 49^th minute with a goal.
 
Both teams continued to battle, looking to grab the upper hand as the second half clock wound down, but neither team scored for the remainder of regulation.

In overtime, the Wildcats put one in, two minutes into the extra session ending the match.
 
After talking with his team who were left heartbroken, Mills said that he hopes his players look back at this season and feel proud for their accomplishment of returning to the postseason.
 
"It is going to hurt for a day or two or maybe even a little while," he said. "But when they realize how well they did overall, making it back to the playoffs, it was so cool to see them set a goal and fight through the adversity and through the injuries to make sure that we reached it."