Orange Coast College

Women's Soccer: Pirates hang on for 3-2 win over Fullerton

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

COSTA MESA -- Apparently, the Orange Coast College women's soccer team enjoys playing under the lights at LeBard Stadium.

Led by a pair of goals by Madison Empting (two goals) and a solo tally from Beth Krikorian, the Pirates held off visiting Fullerton, 3-2 on Tuesday night in Orange Empire Conference action.

"I think in the time that I've been the head coach here, we've played six games at LeBard and I don't think we've lost yet," OCC head coach Kevin Smith said. "Tonight, it wasn't too pretty down the stretch, but a win is a win. I'll take it."

The Pirates (5-4-3, 3-2-1 in conference) jumped out to a 3-0 lead, then held on for dear life as the Hornets (6-4-2, 3-3-1) used a pair of goals by Ashley Wysor to battle back into the contest.

"I'll be honest, when get got up 3-0, I thought that we'd be in good shape, but give Fullerton a ton of credit," Smith said. "They kept coming after us and would not give up until the final whistle. I can see why they beat Cypress earlier this season."

Krikorian got things rolling in the 21st minute when she took a nice pass from Caitlin Wallace, beat her defender and ripped a shot that went off the Hornets' goalkeeper and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Near the end of the first half, OCC added to its advantage when Sara Appel, drove down the right side and fed a nice cross-field pass to Empting, who headed the ball into the right corner of the net for a 2-0 Pirates' advantage.

After outshooting the Hornets 11-2 in the first half, it appeared to be an easy win for the Pirates and Empting's second goal of the game -- a shot from about 25-yards out just under the crossbar -- looked to be the insurance goal they would need.

But the Hornets responded when Wysor ripped in her goals in the 65th and 80th minutes to cut the lead to 3-2.

But that would be as close as the Hornets would get as OCC netminder Caitlin Wallace (seven saves) kept them off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Fullerton goalie Amenaghawon Ogiamein had six saves in the loss.

The Pirates return to the OCC Soccer Complex on Friday for a 1 p.m. matchup against rival Golden West.