Pirates score early, often in 5-2 win over Norco
| 00:00 - 2nd | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Norco (1-11-1, 0-8-1) | 0 | 2 | 2 |
|
Orange Coast (7-2-3, 5-2-2) | 5 | 0 | 5 |
COSTA MESA -- Sparked by five first-half goals, the Orange Coast College women's soccer team took care of business against visiting Norco College with a 5-2 Orange Empire Conference win inside LeBard Stadium.
Sophomore Kamille Cawley led the offensive barrage with three goals, while Jordan Bradley and Danielle Dapello each added single tallies. Karly Freeman and Aly Vargas each notched two assists for the Pirates (7-2-3, 5-2-2 in OEC).
The goals came early and often as the Pirates broke through Norco's defense over and over again.
Cawley's first goal came in the game's sixth minute when she forced a Norco turnover and broke into the scoring area and beat helpless Mustangs' goalkeeper Deyanira Mooraz to put OCC ahead, 1-0.
Just five minutes later, a well-placed header off of the noggin of Vargas enabled Bradley to break through the Mustangs' defense and her goal made it 2-0.
In fact, all five goals by the Pirates were scored on breakaway opportunities as Cawley scored twice more before Dapello capped off OCC's scoring to make it 5-0.
With the game well in hand, the overall play of the Pirates dropped in the second half as the Mustangs scored twice in a 14-minute span. In the 65th minute, Kimberly Stover scored for Norco before Carli Balderrama found the back of the net in the 79th minute.
"I really liked the first 45 minutes," OCC head coach Kevin Smith said. "I didn't like our play in the second half and that's unfortunate because we have two big matches coming up next week. It would have been nice to see our play finish strong, but when it's 5-0, sometimes it's hard to keep the intensity up."
The aforementioned big matches coming up for the Pirates will be on Tuesday at first-place Santiago Canyon (3 p.m.) and on Friday at home against second-place Cypress, also at 3 p.m. and will also be played at LeBard Stadium.
