Orange Coast College

Crimson tied: Pirates, Rustlers end physical matchup all even

Friday, November 03, 2006

COSTA MESA - Anytime the Golden West College Rustlers and Orange Coast College Pirates tangle, it's going to be a hard-fought struggle, no matter what the sport.
Friday's men's soccer game proved that as the two teams had to settle for a 2-2 tie on Friday in Orange Empire Conference action.
"Hard fought and physical," OCC head trainer Glenn Strachan said. "It's always like that when we face them. Today, we had an excellent to win, but we didn't finish the job."

OCC (8-6-6, 4-3-5 in OEC) pushed its unbeaten streak to eight games.
The Pirates opened things in the 14th minute when Ian Cone scored the game's first goal. Teammate Juan Meza (pictured left) followed that with a goal of his own in the 38th minute and OCC held a 2-0 lead after the first half.
That lead held through most of the second half, but the Rustlers (4-4-4 in conference) fought back with two goals in the final 15 minutes of play to escape with a point in the standings.
"We had so many opportunities in the first half, we could have been up 4-0, but we just didn't finish," Strachan said. "I guess any points are good at this point, but with a 2-0 lead, to finish tied is pretty disappointing."
Pirate goalkeeper Alex Roberts finished with three saves.
OCC returns to action on Tuesday at Santa Ana before closing out the regular season at home against Fullerton on Friday. Both games are set to begin at 3 p.m.