Pirates fall just short to Golden West
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Golden West (19-3, 5-0) | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 15 |
|
Orange Coast (11-5, 4-1) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
COSTA MESA -- The "historic" Orange Coast College swimming pool hosted its last-ever water polo matches and the host Pirates pushed conference kingpin Golden West to the limit before falling, 15-10, on Wednesday afternoon.
The Pirates (11-5, 4-1 in OEC) gave the Rustlers (19-3, 5-0) all they could handle, but the hosts just could not climb all the way back from late, first-half run by GWC.
OCC and GWC battled to a 4-4 tie after the first quarter. Trailing 3-1, Coast picked up three straight goals by Nicolas Fichman, Andrej Maodus and Anthony Shin to grab a 4-3 lead before a late Rustler score evened things up at the break.
Both teams traded blows throughout most of the second quarter as goals by Felipe Rocha and Luke Rhone helped draw the Pirates even at 6-6 with 2:41 left in the opening half. But GWC would clamp down on defense and rip off three straight goals before a late tally by Rhone brought the Pirates to within two at the half, 9-7.
GWC took advantage of a 6-on-5 opportunity and scored to make it 10-7 in the opening minute of the third quarter before back-to-back scores by Rhone brought OCC back to within a goal at 10-9.
But that would be as close as the Pirates would get as GWC answered with four straight goals and never trailed the rest of the way.
Rhone finished four four goals for OCC, while Fichman added two goals and Rocha added a goal and dished out seven assists.
For the Rustlers, Riley Pfieffer scored four times, while Andrew Higginson, Manuel Augusto, Taylor Lungu and Matija Lancic each scored twice.
OCC will return to action on Friday at the Southwestern College Dia De Los Muertos Tournament and will open against Ventura at 11 a.m., followed by Palomar at 4:10 p.m.
