Late goals doom Pirates in 3-1 loss to Lasers
COSTA MESA -- It was a solid performance by the Orange Coast College men's soccer team, but the breaks didn't go the Pirates' way down the stretch during Tuesday's 3-1 Orange Empire Conference loss to visiting Irvine Valley.
Holding on to a 1-0 lead with just over 20 minutes left, some good early missed scoring opportunities by the Pirates came back to haunt the hosts as IVC responded with three goals down the stretch to close the game out.
OCC (5-4-0, 1-2-0 in OEC) outshot the Lasers (6-2-2, 2-0-1) 20-10 in the match and had several more decent scoring opportunities than Irvine Valley. However, Lasers' forward Fredy Razo -- last year's conference goal-scoring leader -- made the most of his opportunities and scored back-to-back goals in the 68th and 82nd minutes to give IVC the lead for good.
OCC teammates Baji Chela and Victor Lopez each excellent opportunities to score late, but each shot just barely missed the frame of the goalpost, keeping the Lasers out in front.
Finally, Alex Cannas scored in the game's 88th minute to give the Lasers a much-needed insurance goal.
It was a different story early on as the Pirates maintained control of the game throughout the first half. Coast's lone game came in the 10th minute when Jose Rodriguez used some good work to provide offensive pressure on the Lasers. A shot rang off the post, but found the foot of Patrik Haley, but his shot was deflected off of goalkeeper Diego Chacon and onto the foot of Antonio Gonzalez. The OCC sophomore forward made no mistake with the shot and buried his opportunity into the upper-left corner, putting the Pirates up, 1-0.
But Chacon would not be beaten the rest of the afternoon and finished with six saves. OCC's Tyler Folkins made four stops in goal.
