Pirates topple Grossmont, Rio Hondo on Day 2 of tourney

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's water polo team ruled the pool on Saturday, picking up a hard-fought, 11-10 win over Grossmont, before rolling past Rio Hondo, 17-7, on Day 2 of the Riverside City College Men's Water Polo Tournament (hosted by OCC this year).

In the 8 a.m. opener, it was a dogfight between two evenly-matched teams. The OCC defense and goaltending kept the Griffins quiet for most of the first half as the Pirates carried a 5-2 lead into halftime.  Two goals from Ethan Pranajaya and single goals from Joshua Edwards, Ethan Igloi and Caden Carpenter highlighted the first-half offense for the Pirates.

Coast and Grossmont each had three goals in the third quarter to keep OCC's advantage at three, 8-5. Carpenter threw in a pair during that span, while Dane Howell added a goal of his own.

Grossmont (15-9) came out strong in the fourth and used a 3-1 run to pull to within a goal at 9-8. But, with 2:14 remaining in the game, a great move down low by Igloi led to a highlight-reel goal to put the Pirates up, 10-8.

The Griffins came right back down and scored to make it 10-9, but Pranajaya took a pass from Carpenter and buried a shot into the back of the net to push the lead back up to two at 11-9.

After a Griffins' goal with 1:24 left made it a one-goal game, the Pirates held on the rest of the way and kept Grossmont off the scoreboard on its final two possessions, led by an 11-save performance by goalie Ethan Harris.

In the afternoon matchup, it was all OCC from the opening whistle as the Pirates scored the first five goals in just over three minutes of play and never looked back.

Pranajaya, who led the Pirates with five goals against the Roadrunners, scored the contest's first four goals before an Edwards tally made it 5-0. Coast cruised the rest of the way to improve its record to 9-3 overall.

Bronson Garel and Toby Jones each had four goals for Coast, while Edwards finished with two and Ethan Rose added a solo tally of his own.

Coast will return to the OCC Aquatics Pavilion for an Orange Empire Conference matchup against Saddleback on Wednesday, beginning at 3 p.m.