Offense comes to life for Pirates

COSTA MESA -- After three frustrating games, the Orange Coast College men's soccer team finally posted a crooked number on the scoreboard and notched a 3-1 Orange Empire Conference win over visiting Cypress College on Tuesday at the OCC Soccer Complex.
 
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Pirates and improved their record to 6-5 overall, 2-3 in the OEC.
 
"We've been getting lots of good scoring opportunities, but we've had trouble finishing as of late," OCC assistant coach Glenn Strachan said. "Today we were able to finish better, but we still left some chances out there."
 
Things started strong for OCC when, in the 15th minute, midfielder Baji Chela send a long pass down the left side to teammate Antonio Gonzalez and the sophomore forward used his speed and ball-handling ability to beat his defender and rip a shot into the lower-right corner of the goal.
 
But the Chargers (3-5-3, 1-2-2) answered right back when, off of a corner kick in the 32nd minute, Oscar Alba sent a shot towards goal, where it was re-directed by Alejandro Valdez into the back of the net, tying the match at 1-1.
 
From there, it was another strong first half by the Pirates (outshot the Chargers, 16-5) but no further scoring.
 
Whatever was said in the halftime speech, worked to perfection. Less than a minute into the second half, Takuma Hori took a pass from Matthew Stickler and beat Chargers' goalkeeper Nathan Fletcher to put Coast up for good.
 
That was enough for OCC goalkeeper Tyler Folkins, who notched four saves and used a little help from the crossbar late in the match to preserve the win.
 
In the 58th minute, relentless pressure by the Pirates accounted for their third goal as a shot from Hori was stopped by Fletcher but Cedric Ngangnang buried the rebound for the final goal of the afternoon.