Orange Coast College

Women's Soccer: Pirates settle for 2-2 tie

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's soccer team gave one of the top teams in the area all it could handle on Tuesday at the OCC Soccer Complex, but a late goal by visiting Mt. San Antonio ended the contest in a 2-2 tie.

Following a hard-played 2-0 loss to Ventura on Friday, the Pirates (1-2-2) jumped out quickly on the visiting Mounties (0-1-2) as sophomore forward Beth Krikorian (pictured left) blazed used her speed to score two goals in the first six minutes of the contest.

With Mt. San Antonio's team playing an aggressive style of soccer, OCC knew there would be opportunities for deep balls to be chased down by the speedy Krikorian. Off two long passes from Caitlin Wallace and Cindy Rodriguez, Krikorian was first to each pass and was able to slip her shots past charging goalkeeper Julie Scott to give OCC a 2-0 advantage.

But Mt. SAC would continue to press and for the remainder of the first half and most of the second half, it was the Mounties in control of things.

In the 22nd minute, a Mountie player was tripped up in the scoring area, resulting in a penalty kick. Freshman Jennifer Rivera took the PK and ripped a shot into the upper-left corner of the goal, cutting OCC's advantage to 2-1.

From there, Mt. SAC controlled the majority of the possessions, but thanks to a solid defensive effort, the Mounties weren't getting good looks at the goal.

"They (Mt. San Antonio) had the ball a long time, but we did a great job of not giving them much to shoot at," OCC head coach Kevin Smith said. "We on the other hand, didn't have the ball too much, but when we did, we had excellent looks, but didn't take advantage of them."

Finally in the 82nd minute, Rivera made her own scoring opportunity. About 20 yards out, Rivera dribbled the ball, popped it to her feet a couple of times and then ripped a perfectly-placed shot into the upper-left corner, tying the game at 2.

From there, OCC managed to gain some control of the ball and had a couple of decent scoring chances, but they were not finished.

Reserve goalkeeper Jackie Fuentes added three saves for the Mounties, equaling Scott's total.

For the Pirates, Caitlin Schott posted nine saves as both teams contributed 11 shots apiece.

OCC returns to action on Friday at home against East Los Angeles, beginning at 4 p.m.