In arguably one of their most hard-fought efforts thus far this season, the Bears came up just short, Tuesday, falling to No. 11 Pearl River 2-1 in the MACCC Conference opener.
 
After the match, Southwest head coach Zach Mills said that he believes his Bears out-played the Wildcats especially down the stretch.
 
"We were honestly all over them and I am so proud of them because we were down two starters," he said. "Of course, PRCC is always going to be good and I am so happy with the way that we played but so unbelievably upset that we didn't get the win. We could have. It was one of those game where we easily could have been on-top. No disrespect to 'The River' but I believe that we out-played them. But a win is a win and they did well."
 
Just under 11:00 in the match, the Bears (4-3, 0-1 MACCC) fell behind 1-0 after the Wildcats got on the board with a goal.
 
Despite this, the Bears pressed on and answered back about 20:00 later as Cayden Powell sent a header into the net, set up by a Justin Ruiz free kick, tying the game at 1.
 
Not long into the second half, the Bears unfortunately fell behind once again as Pearl River pushed ahead on offense and snuck one in the goal making it a 2-1 deficit for Southwest.
 
Down the stretch, the Bears tried relentlessly to look for the equalizer. Fueled by a raucous crowd at John I. Hurst Stadium, the Bears had chances to put the ball in including narrow misses from Raul Alegre and Ruiz but, unfortunately, they could not capitalize as the Wildcats escaped with the one goal win.
 
Afterward, Mills praised the crowd and said that it provided a huge boost for his guys.
 
"I hope everyone reads this because that (noise, motivation) means everything," he said. "We didn't get one of those near misses but without the crowd getting crazy like that, those aren't as often and it is huge for the guys to know that they are being supported. They are having fun with it, I am having fun with it, they have more energy, they have more motivation, they have more encouragement. It was massive. Please guys, come out! It was an awesome environment, one of the best that we have had in a long time and I hope that happens all year."
 
The Bears will hit the road on Friday as they head to Perkinston to face Mississippi Gulf Coast at 7 p.m.