Orange Coast College

Men's Soccer: Pirates cruise past Glendale

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

COSTA MESA - With each passing game, the Orange Coast College men's soccer team continues to show improvement and Tuesday's nonconference match with Glendale was no exception.

Controlling nearly every phase of the game, the Pirates made quick work of the visiting Vaqueros with a 3-0 win, pushing Coast's unbeaten streak for four games and improving their overall record to 3-1-1.

"Very happy with this one," assistant coach Glenn Strachan said. "We really seem to be coming together as a team. Not only are the guys learning each other, but I'm learning more about them each day so we're all learning something here."

The Pirates came out on fire early and in the game's fourth minute, a nice corner kick from Brady Condon ended up on the foot of Jarred Balbas and the sophomore forward buried his fourth goal of the season to make it 1-0.

OCC made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute when freshman Nathan Petty picked up a loose ball off a free kick and he sent a well-placed shot into the upper-right corner of the goal.

That was more than enough offense for the Pirates' defense as the Vaqueros were held to very few scoring opportunities. The goalkeeper tandem of Joey Balbas and Dane Fernandez combined for five saves, none from any high-risk, point-blank areas.

After taking a two-goal lead into halftime, the Pirates picked up where they left off and continued to control the contest. In the 60th minute, Anders Zimmerman dribbled down the right side and sent a perfect low pass across the goal area, where teammate Logan Condon slipped a sliding shot past the Glendale goalie and into the back of the net.

OCC returns to action on Friday at Cerritos, beginning at 3 p.m.