Orange Coast College

Men's Soccer: Pirates take control and top Riverside

Monday, October 29, 2007

COSTA MESA - The Orange Coast College men's soccer team found some extra life in the second half and used it to rally past visiting Riverside 2-1 on Monday in an Orange Empire Conference make-up game from last week.

Trailing 1-0 at the half, the Pirates used the intermission and came out the aggressor, setting the tempo for the rest of the game.

Following a Riverside (9-6-1, 4-4-1) infraction, OCC's Curtis Taniguchi (pictured left) buried a well-placed shot over the Tigers' defensive wall and into the upper-left corner of the goal, tying the game at 1 in the 52nd minute.

Less than an minute later, Tigers' goalkeeper Gabriel Esqueda, who finished with nine saves, made a nice do-or-die stop with his hand on a breakaway opportunity by Coast.

Shortly after that, the Pirates (7-6-4, 3-4-2 in conference) earned a penalty kick and even though the PK shot off the goalpost, the momentum was then firmly entrenched in the Pirates' favor.

At the 62nd minute, Kyle Ciandella send a nice chip-pass to Jarred Balbas (pictured right), who beat a Tigers defender and slipped a shot past the sliding RCC goalkeeper for the game-winning goal.

The goalie combination of Dane Fernandez and Joey Balbas combined for five saves and highest-scoring conference team to just one goal.

Riverside's lone tally came in the 36th minute when Arnulfo Sanchez took care of a penalty kick and found the back of the net for his conference-best 13th goal of the season and 15th goal overall.

OCC doesn't have much time to celebrate. The Pirates will be right back on the OCC Soccer Complex turf on Tuesday at 3 p.m. to take on Santa Ana. They will play at Irvine Valley on Wednesday at 3 to conclude last week's makeup games and will wrap up the week at Cypress on Friday, also at 3.