Orange Coast College

Women's Soccer: Pirates shut out Saddleback

Friday, October 12, 2007

COSTA MESA - A good week of soccer was capped off by the Orange Coast College women's soccer team with a 2-0 Orange Empire Conference win against Saddleback on Friday.

Beth Krikorian provided enough offense for the Pirates (3-7-2, 3-4-2), ripping in two goals in the game's first 20 minutes, while goalkeeper Katie Johnson saved all three shots that came her way.

Coast, which lost to the Gauchos 2-0 in the first round of OEC play, came out as the aggresive team and dominated the scoring opportunities in the first half.

In the 10th minute, Krikorian picked up a loose ball off a Saddleback turnover, beat a pair of defenders and ripped a shot into the lower-right corner of the goal.

Just 10 minutes later, Krikorian used a nice touch-pass off the foot of Jamie Smith and from nearly the exact same spot, buried a shot into the upper-left corner this time.

"Beth is a tremendous athlete and when she gets an opportunity in the open field, she can use her speed to her advantage," OCC head coach Kevin Smith said. "She's really been an offensive sparkplug for us."

OCC outshot Saddleback (6-7-1, 4-4-1) by a convincing 21-6 margin. Gaucho goalkeeper Liana Signorile came up with 10 saves.

The Pirates will return to action on Tuesday at Fullerton before returning home to take on OEC powerhouse Santiago Canyon on Friday. Both contests are set to begin at 3 p.m.