Orange Coast College

Men's Soccer: Pirates come up short against Mt. San Antonio

Friday, September 19, 2008

COSTA MESA -- Going through one of the toughest stretches of the season hasn't been easy for the Orange Coast College men's soccer team. Following a 4-0 loss at L.A. Harbor on Tuesday, the Pirates hosted Mt. San Antonio and came up on the wrong side of a 3-2 final score on Friday.

After going back and forth for most of the first half, the Mounties (6-1-1) opened the scoring in the 40th minute when George Pantoja took a pass from Jr. Ponce and ripped a shot that banked off the right post and into the net.

Ten minutes later, the Pirates (4-3) were their own worst enemy as a Mounties' cross-pass was deflected off a Pirate player and into the net for an own goal, giving Mt. SAC a 2-0 advantage.

OCC use a favorable cross-wind to its advantage as goalkeeper Jake Mahlstedt launched a kick almost 60 yards toward teammate Marco Ramirez and the freshman forward eluded his defender and buried his shot into the net in the 58th minute, cutting the score to 2-1.

With the Pirates pressing in the game's final few minutes, Mt. SAC's Victor Cardenas slipped past a Pirate defender and managed to shoot past the charging Mahlstedt to give the Mounties a 3-1 lead in the 89th minute.

Not giving up, OCC again went to work and in the 90th minute, a tug of the shirt in the scoring area resulted in a penalty kick for the Pirates. Sophomore Scotty Locken took the shot and scored, making it 3-2, but with little stoppage time remaining, that would be as close as the Pirates would get.

OCC returns to action on Tuesday at home against Cerritos College at 3 p.m.