Led by Jillian Rhian’s hat-trick, the PCS Lady Bobcats opened the MAIS Division I playoffs Tuesday night with a resounding 6-0 win over Oak Forest Academy. Rhian, an Ole Miss commit, played big with her three goals, but Lady Bobcat head coach Gemma Lynch was quick to call it a great team win.
“Jillian is a very good player, and she just committed to Ole Miss,” Lynch said. “She’s a valuable part of our team. But I feel like every single girl, at some point, made a massive contribution. Jillian got the goals, but I feel like it was a great team effort.”
Emmy Harvey, Avery Smith and Lily Stayer added goals for the Lady Bobcats, who took a 1-0 lead 10 minutes in and did not look back from there.
“We knew what to expect coming into the game,” Lynch said of the win. “I told the girls we just had to execute our gameplan, and I feel like they did it down to a T. I can’t fault anything they did tonight.”
Every player on the team also got in to play at some point, which is obviously big moving forward.
“We ended with the entire seventh grade roster on the field,” Lynch added. “That’s great for them, getting to experience conference play. That’s what it’s all about. Developing younger girls to make our program stronger in the future.”
Lynch and the Lady Bobcats will face a familiar foe, Jackson Academy, in the next round on Thursday.
“We’ve faced Jackson Academy twice this year, so we know what to expect,” Lynch concluded. “We can go into the next game knowing it’s not going to be an easy one. We need to take this confidence from tonight and put it into the game on Thursday.”
