Pirates fall 1-0 to Santiago Canyon in playoff rematch

ORANGE -- Superman had Kryptonite ... Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley each had Michael Jordan ... and, more locally, the Orange Coast College women's soccer team has Santiago Canyon.

On Tuesday, the ninth-seeded Pirates gave the nation's top-ranked team all they could handle, but in the end, the Hawks prevailed, 1-0, to advance to the third round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs. 

The loss ends the Pirates' season at 18-4, with three of those setbacks coming at the hand of the host Hawks (21-0-1).

"They're a good program and we gave them everything we had ... we just came up a little short," OCC head coach Kevin Smith said. "It was a battle in the middle of the field all afternoon -- neither team could really get any good scoring opportunites. Santiago Canyon got one and they cashed in."

After a scoreless first half of play that saw little or no top-quality scoring chances, the Hawks finally found a window of opportunity. Off of a free kick, sophomore midfielder Bianca Frontino (two-time Orange Empire Conference MVP) headed a pass from into the attacking area, where teammate Jennifer Martin chipped in a shot from just outside the 18-yard box, past charging goalkeeper Kate O'Banion (five saves) for the game's lone goal.

Coast managed a couple of mid-level scoring chances down the stretch, but the Hawks' defense was up to the task, keeping the Pirates off of the scoreboard the rest of the way.

For this sophomore-heavy group, Tuesday's loss brought to an end the OCC careers of several players, including Lauren Zepeda, Sara Gomez, Shaylen McNaulty, Cindy Rubio, Helen Guillen, Madeline Edwards, Sarah MacArthur, Emma Pridmore, Siobhan O'Toole, Jessica Amaral, Caitlin Padian, Kiley Leshin and Natalie Seroka. But, after guiding the Pirates to a 33-8-4 record over the past two years.

In fact, if you take nine-time OEC champion Santiago Canyon and Cypress out of the equation, Coast went 32-1-2 over their past two years -- impressive by any standards, unless you play in the same conference as the Hawks and Chargers.

"The legacy of these girls will be remembered for years to come," Smith said. "The bar has been set very high for the next group of players to come in and continue what these girls have started here over these past two seasons. I appreciated all of the hard work and sacrifices they've made to our program and they will all be missed very much."