Despite a strong first half, the Natchez High School Bulldogs soccer team fell to the North Pike High School Jaguars 4-2 Friday afternoon at McLaurin Elementary School soccer field.

In a back and forth first half, the Bulldogs had several early shot attempts, but the Jaguars struck first at the mid-point of the first half.

In the 20th minute of the first half, Brazilian exchange student Rodrigo Silva headed the ball in the back of the net off a corner kick to put the Jaguars on top 1-0.

The lead was short-lived as Ross Smith of Natchez scored in the 27th minute of play to tie the game at 1-1.

Both teams played tough defense the rest of the first half, and neither team scored again to conclude the first half with 1-1 tie.

The Jaguars came out aggressively in the second and took back the lead in the sixth minute of play. John Paul Price scored to put the Jaguars back on top 2-1.

The Bulldogs battled back and tied the game for the second time after Kent Calvit scored in the 20th minute to even the score at 2-2.

But Silva had other plans for the Jaguars as he scored his second goal of the game two minutes later to put North Pike on top 3-2. He sealed the victory and completed the hat trick in the 36th minute of play by chipping the ball over Natchez goalkeeper Jeremy Buckles to give the Jaguars a 4-2 victory.

Natchez head coach Dennis Hogue said the loss was very frustrating.

“We played better than last time and we picked it up in the second half, but we slipped up on defense a few times and it cost us,” Hogue said.

On the positive side, Hogue said all his players got to see some playing time.

He said some players said they thought it felt funny playing on a different field, but he did not think that the field was a major factor in the loss.

“Our weakness has been our defense, and that is something we are going to focus on in practice,” Hogue said.

The game, which was previously scheduled to be played at Natchez High School, was moved to McLaurin Elementary School due to improvements on the Natchez football field.