Orange Coast College

Men's Soccer: Pirates' strong second half results in 3-1 win over Tigers

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

COSTA MESA -- With a strong second-half offensive outburst, the Orange Coast College men's soccer continued its unbeaten streak with a 3-1 Orange Empire Conference win over visiting Riverside on Tuesday at the OCC Soccer Complex.

The Pirates have gone unbeaten in their last seven games with Tuesday's win over the Tigers.

Trailing 1-0 at the half, the Pirates (9-5-3, 5-1-3 in conference) needed just four minutes of the second half to not only tie the game, but take the lead for good.

Just 40 seconds after the second-half whistle blew, a nice block off a clearing pass by Mitch Williams rolled onto the leg of Toshi Fujimura and the freshman used an aggressive slide to fight off Tigers' goalkeeper Antoine Williams and to slip a shot around the keeper and into the net to tie the game.

Just three minutes later, a Riverside defender was called for a hand-ball infraction inside the Tigers' scoring area, resulting in a penalty kick. Freshman Marco Ramirez took advantage and buried his attempt into the lower-right corner of the goal to give OCC a 2-1 advantage.

In the 62nd minute, Scott Locken used a well-played touch-pass to teammate Luis Parra and the freshman forward sent his shot past a charging Williams into the back of the net for a 3-1 advantage.

While the offense was clicking, OCC netminder Brian Rippeto was solid, stopping eight shots in the second half and 10 for the game, including a couple of point-blank attempts by the Tigers (10-7, 3-6).

Riverside's Dorian Farias added to his conference lead with his 12th goal of the season and his ninth conference tally, scored in the game's 15th minute, off an assist by Luis Orozco.

Williams finished with six saves for the Tigers.

OCC returns to action on Friday at home against Irvine Valley, begging at 1 p.m. at the OCC Soccer Complex.