Orange Coast College

Men's water polo takes second at OEC Tournament; women place fifth

Sunday, November 05, 2006

MISSION VIEJO - The Orange Coast College men's water polo team reached the finals of the Orange Empire Conference Championships on Saturday at Saddleback College with a 13-8 win over Fullerton, but came up short against Golden West in the title game, 10-7.
The Pirate women's water polo team finished fifth in the tournament with wins over Saddleback and Cypress, following a tournament-opening loss to Golden West.

Following a bye in the first round, the men used a dominant second half to swim past the Hornets in the championship semifinals. With the game tied at four, OCC used a five-goal third quarter and a four-goal fourth quarter to take control of things.
Casey Satchell (pictured right) led the Pirates with five goals, while Sean Cruz added four of his own. Single goals went to Jared Yocam, Joe Krone, Drew Soria and Robby Houser.
In the title game against the Rustlers, GWC's defense held the Pirates to just three goals through the first three quarters and the Pirates trailed 8-4. Three fourth-quarter goals made things interesting, but the Rustlers were able to muster enough offense of their own to prevail.
Yocam had three goals to lead the Pirates (19-5 overall). Satchell tossed in two goals and Soria and Cruz each added a goal of their own.

On the women's side, the Pirates showed just how far they've come over the course of the season. After falling behind 4-1 in the first quarter, OCC regrouped and battled back into the contest with back-to-back three-goal quarters to tie the game, 7-7, heading into the fourth.
But the second-seed Rustlers would find just enough offense to hand the Pirates their second one-goal loss to GWC this year.
Ashley Maher led the OCC offense with four goals, while Natasha Bustard and Annie Le (pictured left) added two goals each and Katie Mahan tossed in a solo tally of her own.
In the consolation semifinal against Saddleback, the Pirates took control of things early on and cruised to a 17-2 win.
OCC opened things with a 5-0 lead through one quarter and led 9-2 at the half. The Pirates continued the scoring spree with four goals in the third and fourth quarters to blow things wide open.
Le led the offensive explosion with four goals. Maher added three goals and Mahan, Samantha Kilppert, Tonya Jensen and Amy Kiser each added two goals apiece. Bustard also scored for the Pirate women.
In the fifth-place game against Cypress, another strong start got the Pirates off on the right foot, jumping out to a 4-2 lead after the first quarter. Dominant from the two-meter position, Maher led the OCC offense with eight goals, the most by one person in a single game the entire tournament. Le, Klippert, Kiser and Mahan each added a goal as well.
The SoCal Championships will take place Friday and Saturday.