Early goals doom Pirates in 3-1 loss to Golden West
COSTA MESA -- A quick two-goal lead was too much to overcome for the Orange Coast College men's soccer team in Friday's 3-1 Orange Empire Conference loss to visiting Golden West at the OCC Soccer Complex.
A pair of goals by Rustler forward Victor Velazquez within the first 10 minutes of play, put the Pirates (6-3-1, 2-2 in OEC) down 2-0.
Coast managed to regain some momentum throughout the rest of the first half, but could not score. That energy was maintained early in the second half and finally, the Pirates were able to break through.
In the 50th minute, a shot by OCC's Brandon Brennan was deflected off of a Rustler defender and landed at the feet of teammate Jake Little and the sophomore midfielder ripped a shot into the upper-left corner of the goal, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
But the momentum came to a sudden end just three minutes later when GWC's Brian De La Rosa used an outnumbered OCC defense and fed a pass to Nathan DeRosa, who ripped a one-timer past Pirate goalkeeper Connor Nelson to make it 3-1.
Nelson finished the game with six saves, as did GWC netminder, Antonio Flores.
The Pirates will return to action on Tuesday at Santa Ana College (3 p.m.) before returning home on Friday to host Fullerton, beginning at 1 p.m.
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