Pirates take on Roadrunners in SoCal Regional opener

COSTA MESA -- The University of La Verne will be the site on Saturday as the Orange Coast College men's soccer team will face Rio Hondo in the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs, beginning at 2 p.m.

The Pirates (10-5-4), seeded ninth in the playoffs, will be on the road, despite winning the Orange Empire Conference for the first time in 22 years. A mandatory dropped game -- which was turned in to forfeit by CCCAA rules -- greatly affected the power point strength of the Pirates and dropped the champs to ninth.

But there are no sour grapes on the side of the Pirates and their sole focus is on Saturday's matchup with the eighth-seeded Roadrunners (12-4-5) -- champions of the Foothill Conference and a team that Coast defeated 3-1 in the season opener back on Sept. 4.

After starting the season 1-3-1 following a conference-loss to Santiago Canyon, things turned around for the Pirates, who finished the 2013 season 9-1-3 and held the opposition to just five goals over the last nine contests.

It's been a three-headed monster for the OCC offense, led by sophomore standout Jorge Sanchez, who finished the regular season with a team-best eight goals and six assists. Right behind him was the versatile Thales Serra with seven goals and five assists and Tyler Rios right around the corner with six goals and two assists. To further add depth to the roster, three more players -- Pedro Etchechury, Brice Manning and Blake Mooney each added three goals to a Coast team that totalled 34 all season.

In goal, freshman Nathan Brown earned Orange Empire Conference co-MVP honors with his solid play, notching six shutouts and eight wins, while allowing just 10 goals all season (0.78 goals-against average).

For the Roadrunners, champions of the Foothill Conference and this year's eighth seed in the regionals, they also had a slow start to 2013, going 3-3-1. Since then, they have gone 9-1-4 over their past 14 matches, holding the opposition to just eight goals over that span.

Freshman forward Amisraim Valdez led RHC with six goals, while Alex Casas and Makoto Shojo chipped in four each. Casas led the Roadrunners with six assists.

In goal all season has been sophomore Edward Maya, who allowed just 16 goals over 1,890 minutes played (0.76 GAA) with 11 shutouts.

The winner of Saturday's match will face the top-seeded Mt. San Antonio Mounties (14-3-4) on Tuesday or Wednesday.