NATCHEZ — Cathedral High School soccer coach Dennis Hogue was not pleased with how the varsity Green Wave played in the first half of its match Thursday night against Laurel Christian School.

Neither were the players themselves. So much so that they gave themselves a pep talk to get fired up. It worked. Kennedy Williams scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the second minute of the second half as Cathedral defeated the Lions 3-0 in an MAIS Division III South, District 4 match.

“I was kind of upset with my defense. We were not playing well at all. Our timing was off. Passing was off. Poor communication (on defense). They must have shot 30 times in the first half. We shot five (times). Thank goodness they can’t shoot,” Hogue said. “Donny made a whole bunch of saves.”

That’s Green Wave goalkeeper Donovan Dear, who ended up with at least 24 saves to at first keep Cathedral in the match when it was not playing its best soccer in the first half and then to preserve the shutout win in the second half.

Williams broke the scoreless tie after one good pass after another, the last of which went from Ty Bertelsen to Williams.

“Ty gave him the perfect pass,” Hogue said. “Then it went back and forth. They had chances. We had chances. They had chances. We had chances. Nobody could do anything for 36 minutes.”

And it looked like the final score was going to be 1-0 until Joseph Garrity scored in the 38th minute of the second half to give the Green Wave a 2-0 lead.

“Joseph got the pass and juked the defender. He got the shot just over the goalkeeper’s hands,” Hogue said.

The Green Wave capped off the win when Paxton Junkin scored on a deflection off the Lions’ goalkeeper on a shot by Bertelsen.

“It was just like Joseph’s goal. It went right over the goalkeeper’s hands,” Hogue said.

Hogue said that his team did much better passing, communication, and anticipating and interception Laurel Christian’s passes in the second half.

“I was proud of them for making the adjustments and coming out with the win,” Hogue said.

Hogue added that the Laurel Christian team that Cathedral faced Thursday night was completely different from the one it had faced in recent years – especially just a year ago.

“They graduated seven seniors from last year’s team. A lot of younger players. They didn’t even have a JV team,” Hogue said.

Cathedral (5-6, 5-2) is scheduled to host Copiah Academy next Tuesday with the varsity match at 5:30 p.m., followed by the junior varsity match. Hogue said if it’s cold and dry, the matches will take place. But with the weather forecast of rain possibly changing to snow that morning, those matches may not take place.