Orange Coast College

Women's soccer wrangles up Rustlers, 2-0

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

COSTA MESA - Following a pair of tough losses, the Orange Coast College women's soccer team was looking for a dominant performance against Golden West and found it - on everything but the scoreboard.
Despite playing the game primarily in the Rustlers' side of the field, it took 70 minutes of play before Allie Nelson gave the Pirates the lead for good in a 2-0 Orange Empire Conference win on Tuesday.
Following a defensive miscue, Nelson stole the ball, and beat Rustler goalkeeper Adriana Najera with a low-right shot into the back of the net to give OCC (8-5, 5-3 in conference) a lead and also gave coach Kevin Smith a much-needed sigh of relief.
"The past few games, it's been a matter of having a lack of focus and some individual play that needs to improve," Smith said. "We're just not playing to our potential right now and we need to pick it up.
"But remember, it's not where you start, it's where you finish, so there's still time to get better."
OCC outshot GWC 27-1 and had a plethora of scoring chances, but that finishing shot was nowhere to be found before Nelson's goal.
Five minutes later, a cross-pass by Melissa Weisz, found the noggin of Nicole Huff, who headed the ball over Najera's outstretched fingers and under the crossbar for the game's final goal.
Najera kept the Rustlers (1-11, 0-8) in the contest with several nice saves. She finished with 16 saves for the game, while Pirate keeper Katie Johnson stopped the one shot she faced.
Tuesday's win wrapped up the first half of OEC play and Smith knows what's on the horizon for his team.
"We need to take care of our business and play the way we're capable of," Smith said. "If we play the way we're supposed to play, with the same passion and intensity we had earlier in the season, we'll be just fine."
OCC will play at Saddleback on Friday, beginning at 3 p.m.