Pirates denied by Chargers

CYPRESS — The clock finally struck midnight on the Orange Coast College women’s soccer team.

The 13th-seeded Pirates unlikely Cinderella run through the Southern California Regional playoffs ended with a 6-0 loss to top-seeded Cypress Saturday.

The Pirates, after posting shutout victories in the first two rounds, advanced to the regional’s third round, which has the winner moving on to the state’s final four.

OCC (15-8-1) hoped to redeem itself after two previous losses to the Chargers (23-1-2), but were unable to contain Cypress’ high-powered offense.

“We had a big upset in the first game and followed it up with a good road win,” OCC Coach Kevin Smith said, “Today we just came up against a team that capitalized on their opportunities.”

In the first round of the playoffs, OCC went on the road to face fourth-seeded Ventura (18-4-1). Sophomore Nichole Huff headed in a late goal to break a scoreless tie and secure the upset.

Defense played the starring role in the Pirates’ second-round overtime win over 12th-seeded Santa Monica (9-6-8). Both teams were coming off 1-0 victories and neither wanted to blink first.

But, after battling for more than 100 minutes, Melissa Weisz found Kaitlyn Schuesler for the go-ahead goal in the first overtime period. That’s all the scoring OCC would need to finish off its second straight opponent 1-0.

Cypress, on the other hand, had an easier road to the rematch with OCC, as it cruised by both challengers it faced 3-0 and proved why it is the top-seed in the playoffs.

After their two wins, the Pirates didn’t appear to have much left in the tank and had trouble stopping the Chargers’ relentless offensive attack.

Three minutes into the game, Cypress got the only goal they would need when freshman Kristen Mosier’s kick made it past OCC goalkeeper Katie Johnson.

The Chargers controlled the ball for most of the first half and managed to score twice more before the intermission.

Hoping to avoid a third shutout to Cypress, OCC came out of halftime inspired and nearly got on the board when Stacey Shoop’s shot on goal nearly passed the Cerritos goalkeeper. A few minutes later, Allie Nelson just missed scoring when her shot was tipped over the net at the last moment.

“We came out really strong in the second half and I think if we could have gotten one back there, we might have had a chance,” Smith said.