Strong first half propels Pirates past Hornets

COSTA MESA -- It was an effective day at the office for the Orange Coast College women's soccer team as the Pirates cruised to a 6-0 Orange Empire Conference win over visiting Fullerton College on Friday at the OCC Soccer Complex.

Coast (5-3-1, 2-2-0 in conference) broke open a 1-0 contest with three goals over a three-minute span and never looked back from there. OCC outshot the Hornets 20-3 and controlled the match from the opening whistle.

After a couple of near-successes, the Pirates found the back of the net when a long pass from Jordan Moore found the foot of Syndee Busby, whose shot deflected off of the Fullerton goalkeeper and right to Pirate Emily Malec. The sophomore forward made no mistake and scored in the 12th minute, putting OCC ahead for good.

In the 25th minute a blocked shot attempt by Moore found its way to Busby, who scored to put Coast ahead, 2-0.

That goal got the Pirates rolling. Two minutes later, Coast had two more goals in the back of the net, courtesy of Ciara Brennan and Malec (both assisted by Shelle Zito) and the rout was on.

The icing on the cake came in the final seconds of the first half when Samantha Lombardo sent a well-placed corner kick right to teammate Aileen Ortiz and the freshman forward capped off a five-goal, first half of play for the Pirates.

Despite going into the wind for the second half, OCC continued its strong play. In the 65th minute, Moore flicked a perfect header to Zito, who wrapped up the scoring for Coast with the sixth goal of the afternoon.

OCC netminder Tara Tellez saw limited action and notched a pair of second-half saves, while Fullerton goalkeeper Kennedy Heywood had seven saves.

Zito finished with a goal and two assists for Coast, while Malec notched two goals, Moore added two assists and Busby notched a goal and an assist.

The Pirates will return to the OCC Soccer Complex to host Irvine Valley on Tuesday, beginning at 3 p.m.