Pirates again stung by Hornets

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's soccer team nearly came back from a two-goal deficit late, but the Pirates came up a goal short in a 2-1 loss to visiting Fullerton College on Friday at the OCC Soccer Complex.

The Hornets, who managed to top OCC 4-1 at their place back on Oct. 17, busted out of the gates early, scoring two goals by Lizeth Garcia and Izabelle Garcia within the first three minutes of the contest.

From there, it was a stalemate of soccer until the 89th minute, when OCC's Leah Martinovich sent in a corner kick that was headed into the back of the net off the noggin of teammate Sydney Powell, giving OCC a breath of life down the stretch.

But no other scoring opportunities developed and the Hornets made it 2-for-2 against the Pirates this season.

OCC goalkeeper Jessica Gardner came up with seven saves, while Fullerton's Ashlyn Trujillo stopped five shots.

Coast will wrap up the regular season on the road with matches against Cypress on Tuesday (3 p.m.) and Golden West on Thursday (3 p.m.).