Pirates shock Rustlers, 1-0!

COSTA MESA -- It's a catch-phrase that's said around both schools ... anytime Orange Coast and Golden West play in ANY sport, throw the win-loss records out the window. Tuesday summed that up perfectly for the Pirate men's soccer team, who stunned the first-place Rustlers, 1-0, at the OCC Soccer Complex.

Scoreless throughout most of the contest, the Pirates (6-8-4, 2-6-3 in the Orange Empire Conference) found an opening in the 86th minute when forward Jesus Olague received a pass near the middle of the field and used a beautiful touch pass to himself to avoid a charging Rustlers' defender. He then, fed a perfect pass to a streaking Connor Wright, who went in all alone and slipped a shot past the GWC goalkeeper to put the Pirates up 1-0, sending the OCC bench into a frenzy.

The Rustlers (10-2-7, 5-2-4) threw the kitchen sink at the Pirates' defense, but as been the case for the majority of the year, the Coast back line of Jared Velazquez, Tony Tobon, Cantor Wright, Padric Pigeon, Connor Wright and goalkeeper Slater Kucera stood up to the conference's top squad and kept them off the scoreboard the rest of the way. 

It was a hard fought, physical matchup for both teams ... as is usually the case when the Pirates and Rustlers play soccer together. Both halves played out the same script -- the Pirates started each half strong with decent scoring opportunities, before the Rustlers clamped down and moved the action towards the OCC side of the field. 

Coast had the better of the scoring opportunities, while GWC controlled the set-piece advantage with a 9-2 edge in corner kicks. 

Armand Pigeon nearly scored 20 minutes prior to the Wright goal, but an angled shot just rolled wide of the left goal post. 

Kucera and GWC goalkeeper Benjamin Grismann each had six saves for their squads.

It has been a long, frustrating year for the Pirates, picked by some to be among the top teams in the conference. Injuries have plagued Coast this year, but all that was washed away with Tuesday's inspired performance. "It's been rough on these guys, but I'm so proud of how they played today," OCC coach Glenn Strachan said. "These guys absolutely deserve this victory."

It was "upset city" at the top of the OEC standings. In addition to GWC falling to Coast, the other first-place team -- Santa Ana -- fell at home to Irvine Valley, 1-0. Both teams remain tied atop the OEC standings at 5-2-4 overall with one match remaining. Golden West will end its regular season at Santiago Canyon on Friday, beginning at 3 p.m.

OCC will wrap up the regular season on Friday at Santa Ana College, beginning at 3 p.m.