Orange Coast College

Women's Soccer: Bales' last-minute goal lifts Pirates past Santa Ana

Friday, September 25, 2009

COSTA MESA -- After 75 minutes of hair-pulling frustration, the Orange Coast College women's soccer team found its scoring touch and used three late goals to pull out a 3-2 Orange Empire Conference win over visiting Santa Ana College on Friday.

Trailing 1-0 late in the second half, Kallie Ryker took a nice pass from Taryn Bales, turned and ripped a shot into the upper-right corner of the goal in the 76th minute to tie the game at 1-1.

With the momentum on the side of the Pirates (6-2, 2-2 in conference), connected passes from Erica Munoz-Hardway and Ryker led to OCC's second goal, scored by Lara Tishler, giving Coast a 2-1 lead.

Making the most of their limited scoring opportunities, the Dons used a long free kick to tie the game two minutes later as Salina Ortiz sent in a shot that was buried by Rania Hanna in the 86th minute.

After controlling most of the game and outshooting Santa Ana 23-7, OCC looked to be on the verge of a 2-2 tie before Ryker used another nice pass from Bales, found an opening and buried her shot into the lower-left corner with under two minutes left in stoppage time, giving the Pirates the lead for good.

"It wasn't pretty, but the end result was good," OCC head coach Kevin Smith said. "We are so much better than what we've shown out there. Hopefully we can start playing to our potential soon because this was a game we should have taken care of early on."

In the first half, OCC outshot the Dons 15-1 and had several opportunities to score, but Dons' keeper Cortnee Kleidon (15 saves) was there to keep the ball out of the goal.

Esmeralda Valerio put Santa Ana in front early in the second half when she took a pass and slipped a low shot past OCC's charging goalkeeper in the 52nd minute.

Alyssa Simon, filling in for injured keeper Claudia Arias, had four saves for Coast.

OCC returns to action on Tuesday at Saddleback College, beginning at 3 p.m. The Pirates' will return home to take on Fullerton College on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. at LeBard Stadium.