Pirates earn split on Day 1 of tournament

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's water polo team earned a split on Day 1 of the Riverside City College Tournament (hosted this year by OCC, due to COVID regulations) on Friday.

In the opener, Coast took on powerhouse Long Beach City College and came up on the wrong end of a 13-9 decision to the Vikings.

The Pirates (7-3) looked good early on against LBCC (12-2) and carried a 4-2 lead midway through the second quarter, highlighted by three goals over that span by Dane Howell.

The Vikings returned fire and used three straight goals in the second to grab a 5-4 advantage before Caden Carpenter's tally with a minute remaining sent both teams into halftime deadlocked at 5-5.

After a pair of Long Beach goals pushed the Vikings back up, 7-5, Coast's Joshua Edwards buried a shot with 1:03 left in the third quarter to pull to within a goal at 7-6.

But the turning point came after that as the Vikings pulled away with five of the next six goals to make it 12-7. Coast finished strong with goals by Ethan Pranajaya and Howell, but time ran out on the Pirates.

In the late morning matchup, Coast battled another tough team -- Cerritos College -- and took care of the Falcons, 17-11. 

Both teams traded goals throughout most of the first half. Finally, a pair of Howell goals pushed OCC in front, 6-5 and from there, it was all OCC.

With the match tied at six, Coast went on a 7-0 scoring run and never looked back. Carpenter, Edwards and Bronson Garel each scored twice during that crucial run and the Falcons weren't able to get back into the contest the rest of the way.

Carpenter finished with four goals and four assists against the Falcons (9-4), while Pranajaya added three goals. Howell, Edwards, Garel and Ethan Rose each added two goals, while Garrett Gendron and Aria Shahzad-Ghajar each added single goals.

Goalie Ethan Harris had a solid Day 1 of the tournament, stopping 10 shots in the opener and adding five more saves against Cerritos.

Coast will return for Day 2 of the tournament on Saturday at OCC against Grossmont (8 a.m.) and Rio Hondo (1:50 p.m.).