Coast clicks for win

Bryce Alderton

The Orange Coast College men’s soccer team spent the first two weeks

of the season traversing the freeways of Southern California, heading

to road matches as far away as Santa Barbara.

What a welcome sight it must have been, then, to walk on their new

turf for Tuesday’s home opener.

The Pirate men, much like the women two weeks earlier, christened

the synthetic surface with a victory, this one a 3-1 nonconference

win, their first of the season, over Palomar.

“The first one is always the toughest one,” Coast co-coach Jason

Smith said. “Our mind-set was better today.”

Sophomore forward Jose Serpas, a Newport Harbor High standout,

scored his team-leading third goal and added an assist while single

goals from Greg Brown and freshman Irwin Salas, a Costa Mesa product,

helped power Coast (1-2-1) against the Comets (2-2-1).

“Everyone was fighting to win [Tuesday],” Serpas said. “All we

needed to do was finish.”

The Pirates pelted Palomar goalkeeper Tom Bowman with 14 of their

20 total shots in the final 45 minutes, but it wasn’t until Serpas

weaved a ball through three defenders and into the net to give Coast

a 2-0 lead with six minutes left, that the hosts a little more

breathing room.

That room quickly shrunk less than a minute later when Palomar’s

Bryan Bernetskie corralled a rebound and rifled a ball into the right

side of the net after Coast gave the ball away in their own end.

But with less than a minute remaining, Serpas raced down the right

side and crossed to Brown, who had entered the game for the first

time seconds earlier. Brown, standing unmarked near the back post,

sent the ball into the back of the net.

The Comets managed just seven shots, a credit to Coast’s defense

led by sweeper Sean Bedier-Prairie and sophomore John Gauthier.

Smith said the Pirates might have been a little too pass-happy in

the first half, but began to show improving signs in the second 45

minutes.

“In the first half, the last pass would let us down,” Smith said.

“[In the second half], we were sharper with our last pass.”

Serpas said Coast’s prior two losses, both 3-2 setbacks with

winning goals coming in the final minutes, helped keep the squad

focused against Palomar.

“In the close games, our weakness has been turnovers, so we

practiced [eliminating mistakes],” Serpas said. “We had less

turnovers today and everybody stepped up.”

Coast took a 1-0 lead in the 45th minute when sophomore forward

Miguel Ochoa hit Salas in stride and the midfielder rolled the ball

in the left side of the goal.