Pirates go 3-1 at Long Beach tourney
LONG BEACH -- The Orange Coast College women's water polo team finished the Long Beach College Tournament with a solid three-match win streak to close out the weekend.
After opening with a 6-5 loss to the host Vikings on Friday, the Pirates responded well and topped Cypress 6-4 on Friday and beat both Sierra (12-3) and Santa Barbara (8-6) to finish 3-1 overall.
In the opener against the Vikings, Coast trailed by two goals on two different occasions and both times, the Pirates managed to rally and even the score. But, again, LBCC jumped out 6-4 and despite a solid effort, Coast came up one goal short.
Katie Hansen had two goals for the Pirates, while Kiana Fortier, Andrea Sandoval and Lauren Babb each added one goal. Goalie Amy Jensen notched nine saves.
Against Cypress, OCC jumped ahead early and stayed ahead the rest of the way. Hansen and Alexa Clayfield each had two goals, with both of Clayfield's tallies coming in the fourth quarter to give Coast a 6-3 lead. Sandoval and Layla Jahnshahi also added single goals each for the Pirates.
On Saturday against SBCC, the Pirates jumped out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back as Sandoval paced the offense with five goals. Hansen chipped in two goals, while Babb tossed in one goal of her own. Jensen kept the lead in tact with an eight-save performance.
Against Sierra, a strong first half gave Coast an 8-2 advantage and the Pirates cruised from there. Babb led the offense with three goals, Nathania Cuevas and De Los Santos each had two and Sandoval, Hansel, Jahanshahi, Lauryn Feilmeier and Kestlyn Hickey each chipped in one goal.
The Pirates will return to action on Wednesday at home against Orange Empire Conference foe, Santa Ana, beginning at 4 p.m.
