Orange Coast College

Women's Water Polo: Pirates fall late to Fullerton, 13-12

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's water polo team dropped a hard-fought 13-12 decision to visiting Fullerton College on Wednesday in a battle between two of the top 10 teams in the state.

With the match tied at 11 midway through the fourth quarter, OCC's Ashley Rendon notched her third goal of the game from an assist by Brittany Daniels, giving the fifth-ranked Pirates (17-8, 3-2 in Orange Empire Conference) a 12-11 advantage with 3:17 left.

It was a one goal game that could have been much larger, given the number of 6-on-5 possessions the Pirates had. However, out of the 11 extra-swimmer advantages, Coast was only able to score on three of them.

Fullerton's Iliana Meza lobbed a shot over OCC goalie Cassandra Zaim with 1:04 left to tie the match at 12, but Coast came right back and earned another 6-on-5 with under a minute left, but the possession led to a turnover and Fullerton had the final trip down the pool with 30 seconds remaining.

In that span, Meza sent a pass down to Mayra Sarinana and the freshman 2-meter player flipped a backhanded shot into the net with one second remaining, giving the Hornets the win.

Daniels led the offense with three goals and two assists for the Pirates, while Mary Jane Cooney added three goals of her own and added an assist. Ashley Rendon tossed in three goals, while single goals were provided by Sylvia Espinosa, Tasman Backer and Jamie Bee.

In goal, Zaim stopped six shots for Coast.

OCC returns to action on Wednesday at home against OEC rival Golden West, beginning at 3 p.m.