Pirates top Cypress, Riverside to reach OEC title matchup on Saturday
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Orange Coast (22-4, 4-1) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
|
Riverside (18-7, 4-1) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
RIVERSIDE -- The Orange Coast College women's water polo team had a long, but productive Thursday, topping Cypress 16-7 and Riverside 8-7 to advance to the championship round of the Orange Empire Conference Women's Water Polo Tournament, set for Saturday at 1:50 p.m. at Riverside City College.
In the opener against the sixth-seeded Chargers, the No. 3 Pirates (23-4) took control of things early by outscoring Cypress 12-1 in the first half. From there the Pirates got everyone involved and conserved energy for the big showdown with the No. 2-seeded Tigers in the afternoon.
Kendall Chrisman had four goals to lead OCC over Cypress, while Faith Cuevas and Natalia Standard each had two. Jillian Duwe paced the offense with a goal and a team-best four assists, while goalie Annabelle Sherman held the Chargers to three goals over three quarters of work with eight saves.
In the semifinals against the host Tigers, Coast pushed out to an early 3-0 lead and despite push back from a talented RCC squad, OCC never allowed the Tigers to take a lead.
Coast led 5-4 after three quarters before both teams began trading goals back and forth. Each time Riverisde tied the score up, Destiny Hernandez put the Pirates back out in front with a pair of fourth-quarter tallies. Riverside tied the score again with a goal by Jessie Nelson with 5:19 remaining, but Diana Hernandez put the Pirates back out in front with a goal at the 4:57 mark.
From there, Sherman (11 saves) and the Pirate defense went to work and kept the Tigers off of the scoreboard the rest of the way, killing off a 6-on-5 opportunity in the final minute as well.
It was the fourth straight win over the Tigers this year, with three of those wins coming by one or two goals each.
OCC will advance to the title matchup to face No. 1-seeded Fullerton on Saturday at 1:50 p.m. Three of the four OCC losses this year has been at the hands of the Hornets, who recently topped the Pirates, 11-8, on Oct. 26 at OCC in the regular season finale.
