Pirates use three late goals to win 4-1
IRVINE -- Thanks to three late goals, the Orange Coast College women's soccer team got the cushion it needed to post a 4-1 Orange Empire Conference win against Irvine Valley College on Wednesday at IVC.
Coast (11-2, 6-2 in OEC) -- winners of six straight -- took the lead in the ninth minute when Sara Gomez intercepted a clearing punt from IVC goalkeeper Amanda Rashtian and slipped a shot past her into the net.
IVC (2-8-2, 0-6-2) managed to do something that hasn't been done in six matches -- score a goal against the Pirates. In the 16th minute, Julian Hyodo picked up a loose ball off a Yasmine Hart shot that rang off of the crossbar, then, fed a nice pass to Ruriko Yoshimura, who found the lower-left corner of the goal to tie things up.
It stayed that way until the 70th minute when Gomez took a pass from Helen Guillen and outraced the IVC defense and scored for her fifth goal in the last two matches, putting the Pirates up 2-1.
Jessica Amaral gave Coast some much-needed breathing room five minutes later when she scored off of a Sarah MacArthur feed to put the Pirates up 3-1.
Finally, in the 81st minute, MacArthur wrapped up the scoring with the Pirates' fourth goal of the game, off of an assist by Caitlin Padian.
In goal, OCC freshman Emily Harrier posted six saves for the win.
The Pirates will start the second round of OEC play on Friday at home against Cypress College, beginning at 3 p.m.
