Pirates run out of gas; fall to Santiago Canyon in OT

ORANGE -- Injuries, three consecutive playoff overtimes and a talented Santiago Canyon team were just too much for the Orange Coast College women's soccer team to overcome.

The Pirates, banged up and exhausted, pushed the host Hawks into overtime, but in the end, the Hawks managed to find success down the stretch and pulled out a 3-0 OT win in front of several hundred fans at the SCC Soccer Complex.

"Our girls left it on the field and that's all a coach can ask for," OCC head coach Kevin Smith said. "With our third overtime in a week and the number of players we have banged up, I think we ran out of gas down the stretch. That said, we still had some chances to win the match in regulation, but we didn't get the breaks that we needed."

It was the third loss of the season for the 11th-seeded Pirates (14-4-4) over the No. 2-seeded Hawks (20-1-2) and the third year in a row in which OCC's postseason hopes ended on the SCC field.

"Santiago is a good team ... a deep team and they used that to their advantage," Smith said. "We only subbed a couple of times the entire match and that caught up to us a bit."

Both teams traded haymakers for 90 minutes but neither team could find the back of the net. 

OCC netminder Emily Harrier, owner of 14 saves, kept the Pirates in the match with several big-time stops. In the first half, the sophomore GK out of El Toro HS came up big on a 1-on-1 race for a loose ball and a few minutes later, she came up with a great stop off a corner kick rebound attempt by the Hawks.

In the 63rd, OCC's first corner kick of the afternoon looked to put the Pirates in front when Anmarie Moreno ripped a header towards the SCC goal, but, the ball just missed high, keeping the match scoreless.

In the 86th minute, Karly Freeman nearly connected with a streaking Kamille Cawley for a potential breakaway, but the pass just eluded the sophomore forward.

SCC had a shot bank off of the goalpost and another scoring attempt missed the head of a Hawks' forward in the final minute of regulation, sending both teams into overtime.

It didn't take long for the Hawks to take control of things as Jenny Konishi dribbled deep into the OCC zone, then passed behind the rush of players onto the feet of teammate Sam Jones, who scored in the 92nd minute to put Santiago Canyon up 1-0.

Three minutes later, a Freeman attempt banged off the crossbar, keeping SCC out in front.

From there, a goal by Konishi in the 105th minute and a penalty kick goal by Reanne Macon in the 109th minute put the Hawks ahead for good. 

SCC goalkeeper Crystal Allen stopped six shots to preserve the shutout win for the Hawks.

The Pirates' already banged-up squad fell another player short when forward Shelle Zito -- OCC's hero in Tuesday's playoff win over L.A. Pierce -- was taken off of the field in an ambulance after being hit in the head by a SCC player. 

"This team has a lot to be proud of," Smith said. "We lost Shelle early in the match and we still kept on battling. We've done a good job of closing the gap between us and them (Santiago Canyon). We finished second in our conference to them the past two years and hopefully next year, we can climb over the hump."