Heading toward a showdown

Aah, the anticipation mounts!

The Orange Coast College Pirates 13-4, 4-0 in the Orange Empire

Conference through action Thursday, get set to face Golden West

(14-3, 3-0) Wednesday at Golden West in a “Battle of the Titans”

matchup pitting the conference’s two top teams so far this season.

Orange Coast coach Mike Giles looks forward to the challenge.

“(Golden West) has tremendous experience with the players they

have,” said Giles following Coast’s 12-2 win over Utah Thursday.

“We’ll have to outswim them because they will score a lot. We have to

play smart defense, get out and go for it, but we’re definitely

looking forward to it.”

In OCC’s 7-4 win over the Rustlers in the semifinals of the Long

Beach City College Women’s Water Polo Tournament last season, Erica

Nicholson scored one goal and goalkeeper Heather Deyden saved eight

shots.

Through 15 matches this season, OCC’s Nicole Sonnenfeld has

amassed 38 goals, good for fifth place in scoring in the state, just

six goals behind Golden West’s Melody Warren, who has 44 goals.

Golden West’s Patty Cardenas has already tallied 79 goals on the

year to lead the state in scoring.

Sonnenfeld, a 5-foot-8 sophomore from El Toro High, scored 58

goals last season as Orange Coast went 35-0 to win the state

championship.

OCC dropped a spot to fifth in last week’s California Community

College Coaches’ Water Polo Poll after splitting their four matches

at the fourth annual Mid-State Water Polo Tournament at Cuesta

College in San Luis Obispo Sept. 27-28. Long Beach (11-1, 3-0 in the South Coast Conference) holds the top spot in the rankings.

But the Pirates should rebound in the polls with wins over

Saddleback, 16-4 Wednesday followed up with a 12-2 win Thursday over

the University of Utah club team, as Nicholson scored two goals,

tallied two assists and made six saves in goal. Sheri Meyer scored a

match-best three goals for the Pirates against Utah.

The Pirates are in Ventura for the Ventura Tournament this weekend

before the showdown Wednesday at 4 p.m. with Golden West.

* The now-departed OCC quarterbacks coach Phil Cooper worked with

Jamie Martin, a reserve quarterback on the St. Louis Rams who will

make his second career start today when the Rams visit San Francisco

to play the 49ers, when Martin played for Weber State University in

Ogden, Utah, where Cooper both attended and coached.

Cooper coached quarterbacks at OCC for four years and coached in

his last game with the Bucs Saturday as the Pirates battled host Mt.

San Antonio.

Bill Workman, who racked up a 63-70 record while the head coach at

OCC from 1986-1998, will take over for Cooper for the remainder of

the season.

Cooper graduated with a physical education degree from the

university in 1987 and stayed on to coach the quarterbacks and scout

team before returning to another alma mater, Edison High in 1995.

Cooper attended Edison High and Santa Ana College before moving on

to Weber State. Cooper began working with the freshman team as the

offensive coordinator his first season at Edison, then spent four

years with the varsity and junior varsity quarterbacks.

Martin starts because Kurt Warner is expected to be sidelined

eight to 10 weeks following surgery on his right pinkie after he

injured the finger in the Rams’ 13-10 loss to Dallas Sunday.

In the Dallas game Martin led the Rams on two scoring drives and

completed 24 of 37 passes for 267 yards (all career highs).