Lesson learned for Pirates

Steve Virgen

You’ve got to want it to win it.

That’s the message usually given to teams in the fourth quarter.

In the Orange Coast College women’s water polo team’s game against

visiting Fullerton, it was the Hornets who lived up to that

statement. Fullerton overcame a 6-4 third-quarter deficit and

outscored the Pirates, 4-1, in the fourth to win, 9-7, closing out

the Orange Empire Conference regular season Wednesday.

“In the end, they wanted it a little more than we did,” said Jeff

Colton, OCC’s first-year coach. “We went up on them, but they

wouldn’t let up and they fought until the end.”

Aside from the Hornets’ motivation, they also benefited from

six-on-five situations in the fourth quarter. The Pirates (13-12, 3-2

in conference) had three ejections and Fullerton scored on each of

them. Plus, the Hornets (19-6, 3-2) gained a four-meter penalty shot

with 17 seconds left to attain the insurance goal.

“They did a good job of defending us early on,” Fullerton Coach

Pete Snyder said. “We got a fair number of ejections toward the end

and our ball-handling was better.”

Snyder also said he noticed an improvement from the Pirates since

the last time the two teams met in the Ventura tournament Oct. 3. The

Hornets won that game, but Snyder said OCC was a different team

Wednesday.

The Pirates opened the season losing their first four matches, but

have since gone 13-8 and continue to improve. They lost 9-6 to

district rival Golden West, which is ranked No. 2 in the state.

Orange Coast is ranked No. 9, while the Hornets are sixth.

“They’ve been doing a good job,” Colton said. “We’ve had a lot of

injuries this year and, considering the new-coach transition, we’ve

done a good job.”

OCC had victory in its sights, building its 6-4 lead when Courtney

Robertson scored in the hole after taking a pass from Sarah Mitchell

with 3:09 left in the third quarter. But, the Hornets came back and

went up 7-6 with 4:02 remaining.

The Pirates had a chance to tie, but did not take advantage of a

power play. Fullerton, however, did and went up by two. OCC came

within, 8-7, but could not catch the Hornets. Sara Natalizio led the

Pirates with a game-high three goals.

The teams could possibly face each other again in the OEC

tournament Nov. 6 and Nov. 8.

*--*

Orange Empire Conference

Fullerton 9, Orange Coast 7

Score by Quarters

Fullerton 2 1 2 4 -- 9

OCC 1 3 2 1 -- 7

Fullerton -- Benson 2, Sanchez 2, Parrish 2,

Flores 1, Wagner 1, Peterson 1. Saves -- McMorris

12. OCC -- Natalizio 3, Doll 2, Harvey 1,

Robertson 1. Saves -- Stashak 5.

*--*