Orange Coast College

Men's soccer rallies for 2-1 win over Santiago Canyon

Friday, September 29, 2006

COSTA MESA -- With an anxious OCC crowd yelling "Shoot the ball!" in the game's final minute, Matt Schirmer answered their request, ripping a shot into the upper-left corner of the goal to lift the Pirates past Santiago Canyon 2-1 on Friday at the Orange Coast College Soccer Complex.
It was an inspired second-half comeback win for the Pirates, whose first-half play inspired nothing but a halftime trip to the verbal woodshed by head trainer Glenn Stratchan.
"Basically, it comes down to a desire to win and in the first half, I told them that they were playing with no desire," Stratchan said. "They were settling for just playing soccer and hanging out. To be good at this level, it takes a certain amount of heart and desire. We had that in the second half."
Trailing 1-0 after the first half on a goal by SCC's Dustin Daley, OCC took advantage of a huge gift from Hawks' goalkeeper Carson Hedrick.
On a long shot toward the Hawks' goal, Hedrick, instead of simply catching the ball, elected to play it off his chest. The ball bounced directly to Pirate forward Juan Meza, who slipped a shot past a stunned Hedrick and into the back of the net in the game's 55th minute.
The game seemed to be headed for a 1-1 tie, but with the ball near the top of the Hawks' box, Schirmer ripped a shot from the left side that eluded the outstretched arms of Hedrick for the game-winning goal, setting off a World Cup-esque celebration by his Pirate teammates.
While the win was a huge boost for the Pirates, they are still looking for the right answers on offense as they hit the two-goal mark for only the third time this season. Not since the season-opening 3-0 win against Moorpark have the Bucs scored more than two goals.
"We just need to get more people in the box with that desire to score," Strachan said. "Once we get the ball in the box, we need to finish."
OCC will continue Orange Empire Conference action on Tuesday at home against Cypress, beginning at 3 p.m.