Orange Coast College

Men's Soccer: Pirates round up Rustlers, 4-0

Friday, October 10, 2008

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's soccer team saw firsthand what type of potential it has, thanks to a brilliant first-half barrage that led to a 4-0 Orange Empire Conference over visiting Golden West on Friday.

With precise touch-passes and relentless offensive command, the Pirates (6-6, 2-2 in conference), jumped out a 3-0 lead in the first 16 minutes and never looked back.

"That was some pretty nice soccer we played early on," OCC head trainer Glenn Strachan said. "When we're on like that, we're a pretty tough team to beat."

The fun started early for the Pirates as a nice two-on-one pass from Marco Ramirez found the foot of teammate Gustavo Ibarra and the freshman chipped a shot over GWC's charging goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead in the game's second minute.

OCC made it 2-0 just five minutes later as a hard shot from Ibarra was stopped, but the rebound went right to Ramirez and he buried the chance into the back of the net.

Perhaps the goal of the year came in the 16th minute when a nice drop-pass from Toshi Fujimura headed into open space and a pair of Pirates -- Ibarra and Scotty Locken -- were quickly approaching.

Locken made the first move, but Ibarra called him off as he ripped a laser from 18-yards out into the upper-right corner of the goal, sending the OCC bench into a frenzy. Ibarra finished the game with two goals and an assist to lead a Coast offense that outshot the Rustlers 20-3.

"That definitely was one of the nicer goals I've seen around here in a long time," Strachan said. "Everyone seemed to be on the same page right from the opening whistle and it was great to see."

Off a Locken corner-kick, Kevin Fronk picked up a loose rebound and slipped it in for a 4-0 advantage at the 26th minute.

That's all the Pirates would need as the Rustlers were kept off the scoreboard the rest of the afternoon.

It was a typical OCC-GWC rivalry game as fouls and infractions began to pile up. GWC had two players ejected for rough play and OCC had one ejected late in the second half.

The Pirates return to action on Tuesday at Santa Ana College, beginning at 3 p.m.