Orange Coast College

Men's Water Polo: Pirates hang on for 13-12 win over Hornets

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

COSTA MESA -- Following a successful trip up north to the Cuesta College Tournament, the Orange Coast College men's water polo team returned home and posted a 13-12 win over visiting Fullerton College on Wednesday on Orange Empire Conference action.

Michael Baba led the 10th ranked Pirates (14-6, 3-1 in OEC) with three goals and two assists, while Adam Thomas added three goals and one assist. Kyle Thorsness and Adam Smith each added two goals, while solo tallies were provided by Antonio Dominguez, Shardad Djahangivy and Casey Sullivan.

After trailing 6-3 at the half, OCC came on strong in the third quarter, using its speed and fast-break abilities to its advantage. In a 2:30 span of the third, two goals by Baba and single goals from Thorsness and Smith pushed the Pirates in front, 7-6, heading into the final eight minutes of action.

Seventh-ranked Fullerton (11-4, 1-3) used a pair of 6-on-5 opportunities to tie the contest at 8 early in the fourth, but the Pirates again used four straight goals to capture their biggest lead of the match, 12-8, with 3:32 left.

But the Hornets would come back, scoring four goals on their next six possessions to get within one at 13-12 with 55 seconds left.

An OCC shot was stopped with 40 seconds left and the Hornets had one final possession to tie things up, but their next shot rang off the post, giving Coast the ball back. The Pirates maintained possession for the final few seconds to preserve the win.

Coast will participate in the Golden West Tournament this weekend and will return home on Wednesday at 4 p.m. to host the rival Rustlers.