Pirates fall to Rio Hondo in playoff opener

LA VERNE -- The magical run of the 2013 Orange Coast College men's soccer team came to a stunning end as the Pirates lost to Rio Hondo, 2-1, in the opening round of the Southern California Regional playoffs on Saturday at the University of La Verne.

The Pirates (10-5-4), champions of the Orange Empire Conference for the first time since 1992, found themselves in a dogfight right from the opening whistle.

After missing opportunities early on, the Roadrunners (13-4-5) grabbed the lead when Emmanuel Varela took a feed from John Contreras and found the back of the net in the 20th minute.

Coast, who beat the Roadrunners, 3-1, back on Sept. 4, had a couple of decent looks in the first half, but were no match to the work put out by RHC.

"They (Rio Hondo) came out with more energy than us and we were actually pretty lucky to still be in the match at halftime," OCC head coach Kevin Smith said. 

Rio Hondo made it 2-0 in the 65th minute when Varela again scored, this time off an assist by Alex Casas.

Finally, in the 87th minute, Coast's offense connected when Jorge Sanchez took a feed from Thales Serra  off of an indirect kick and brought the Pirates back to within a goal. 

"Much like the last two matches (both 1-1 ties where OCC scored late), we went all out in the final minutes and made things interesting," Smith said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't make it all the way back."

While the loss gives the Pirates a painful sting to the 2013 season, Smith was quick to point out the positives of this memorable season. "If you were to tell me that after the first five matches when we were 1-3-1 that we'd be conference champions, I don't think I would've believed you," Smith said. "I'm so proud of these guys for what they've put into this program over the past few months. The guys should be proud of what we accomplished this year."