Pirates take all three at mini tournament

COSTA MESA -- The brand-new Orange Coast College Aquatics Pavilion is getting quite the workout for its opening season of action and for the OCC men's water polo team, the Pirates felt right at home on Saturday with three straight wins at the OCC Mini Tournament.

In the opener, OCC (14-4) took on Ventura and used a dominating second quarter to pull away from the VC Pirates, 18-6. Coast led 3-2 after the opening eight minutes before outscoring Ventura, 7-0 in the second quarter to lead 10-2 at halftime. Coast held serve in the third before pulling further away in the final eight minutes.

Dane Howell and Joshua Edwards each had four goals against Ventura, while Toby Jones added three for OCC. Goalies Henry Szczuka and Benjamin Matz each played a half and the duo combined for 13 saves.

It was more of the same in OCC's second contest of the tourney as the Pirates rolled past Palomar, 19-7. Another strong first half for the Pirates led the way to victory as they outscored the Comets 12-2 in the first half and never looked back.

Seven different OCC swimmers had multiple goals in the match, including Ethan Rose, who led the way with three. Howell, Edwards, Jones, Kyle Jolas, Caden Carpenter and Bronson Garel each added two goals. Ethan Harris started and allowed just two first-half goals with seven saves, before turning things over to teammate Chris Sandoval, who picked up five second-half saves of his own.

The highlight match of the one-day event was the final one of the afternoon as OCC took on Grossmont. The same two teams played in the OCC pool on Oct. 9 and the Pirates held on for an 11-10 win. Saturday's showdown was just as intense and for the hosts, it garnered another hard-fought win as the Pirates prevailed, 12-10 over the Griffins.

Coast led 6-2 after the first quarter, but the Griffins (16-11) won the second quarter (4-3) and third quarter (3-2) to pull to within two at 11-9.

Grossmont's Brock Kammerer found the back of the net on a 5-meter attempt early in the fourth quarter to pull Grossmont to within a goal at 11-10.

From there, both teams battled each other on both sides of the pool. Each team had opportunities to score, but the goalies for each team -- GC's Parker George and OCC's Benjamin Matz -- came up with big saves. 

Finally, with 55 seconds remaining, Grossmont was called for an ejection and seconds later, Ethan Pranajaya beat George with a point-blank shot to put Coast up, 12-10. That would prove to be enough as the Pirate defense kept Grossmont off the scoreboard over the final minute of play.

Matz, who came up huge with two saves on 5-meter penalty shots by the Griffins earlier in the game, finished with 14 saves. 

Howell and Pranajaya each had four goals for the Pirates in the nightcap, while Edwards, Jolas, Carpenter and Ethan Igloi each added one. 

OCC will return to action on Wednesday at Golden West College, beginning at 3 p.m.