Pirates find offensive success in 4-1 win over Hawks

COSTA MESA -- Finally ... smiles flashed across the faces of the players and coaching staff of the Orange Coast College men's soccer team following Tuesday night's 4-1 Orange Empire Conference win over visiting Santiago Canyon inside LeBard Stadium.

In a season plagued with scoring droughts and a little bit of bad luck, the Pirates (2-4-1, 1-0-0 in conference) picked up some key saves and found some much-needed offensive success to put away the visiting Hawks (2-4-1, 0-1-0).

After an OCC goal was disallowed on a questionable offside call, Santiago Canyon took a 1-0 lead when Dylen Jeworski took a free-kick pass from Kyle Pizano and redirected the ball past goalie Ryan Brown in the 21st minute.

But back came the Pirates when, just three minutes later, Jesus Estrada slipped a perfectly-timed pass to a streaking Peter Marquez, who found an opening and beat SCC netminder Ulises Serafin to tie the match at a goal apiece.

It stayed that way through the first half and despite a strong start by the Hawks, it remained 1-1 thanks to three point-blank saves by Brown, keeping the Pirates in the match. Early in the second half, Pizano headed a shot on goal, but Brown used quick reflexes to send the ball over the goal. A few minutes later, Jeworski sent a ball from the left side back towards the right corner, but Brown extended his left hand to send the ball wide. And finally, a hard shot off the foot of Joshua Gutierrez was knocked away by a diving Brown, keeping the Hawks off of the scoreboard.

That allowed the Pirates, finders of only three goals through their first six matches, to find the back of the net three more times.

In the 57th minute, a nice cross-pass by Abraham Cortes found the foot of teammate Marco Pineda, who buried the ball into the back of the net, putting Coast ahead for good.

Thirteen minutes later, Colton Goodness redirected the ball to Marquez, who one-timed a shot past Serafin for his second goal of the night, making it 3-1.

Finally, in the 73rd minute, a throw-in was flicked by Marquez over to Isacc Campos, who beat Sarafin to the far post to make it 4-1.

Brown finished the night with nine saves for the Pirates, while Serafin earned four saves for the Hawks.

Coast travels to Norco College on Friday to take on the Mustangs (3 p.m.) before returning home to host Irvine Valley on Tuesday (3 p.m.) at the OCC Soccer Complex.