Orange Coast College

Men's Soccer: Banged-up Pirates fall to Santa Ana

Friday, November 06, 2009

COSTA MESA -- With a bench that resembled something from a M*A*S*H episode, the shorthanded Orange Coast College men's soccer team pushed the first-place Santa Ana Dons to the limit, only to fall to the visiting Dons, 4-2, on Friday.

The Pirates (8-9-2, 5-5-2 in OEC), who played with nine starters unable to play due to injury or illness, hung tough with the Dons (11-4-4, 9-1-2) through most of the game. However, with the game tied at 2, the Dons were awarded a penalty kick and freshman forward Adrian Negrete buried his shot into the lower-left corner of the goal, putting Santa Ana up 3-2 with just under 15 minutes to go.

OCC had a couple of late scoring chances but came up short and with most of the Pirates pushing toward the Santa Ana goal, a late rush by the Dons was cashed in during stoppage time to put the game away.

Orange Coast took the early lead in the game when Denny Perdomo slipped a pass to teammate Omid Kazemi and the freshman midfielder beat charging SAC goalkeeper Adrian Garcia (nine saves) with a shot that barely got into the net to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute.

That lead lasted all of two minutes before the Dons tied things up. Off a free kick, former OCC standout Marco Ramirez deflected a shot past Coast goalkeeper Zakre Silva (five saves) to even the score at 1.

It would remain that way for the remainder of the first half. Thirteen minutes into the second half a touch-pass from Daniel Ruiz found Ramirez and the sophomore notched his second goal of the game to give Santa Ana a 2-1 lead.

Much like the Dons, the Pirates needed just two minutes to even the score. Off a free kick, Shun Katashima chipped a pass over the Dons' wall of defenders and onto the head of teammate Adrian Buonanoce, who deflected it past Garcia and into the net to tie the game at 2.

OCC returns to the OCC Soccer Complex on Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Fullerton College.