Pirates rally for victory

After rallying for 45 minutes in a scoreless game against visiting

Santa Barbara City College, the Orange Coast College men’s soccer

team came into the second half on fire, scoring two goals in the

opening minutes and shutting out the Vaqueros, 2-0, Wednesday in

nonconference action.

Solid defense by sophomore goalkeeper Trent Painter, who had six

saves for the Pirates (2-0-1) and captured his first shutout, kept

Santa Barbara scoreless in the first half.

“Trent is a great goal keeper,” said freshman Joel Walker, who

scored his fifth goal in three games. “He’s an all-around great

athlete, and he’s been solid in the past three games.”

In the second half, after words of inspiration from assistant

coach Kevin Smith, sophomore Will Guzman passed to Irwin Salas on the

right side. After battling with his opponent, Salas, who, at Costa

Mesa High was named All-Pacific Coast League in cross country, passed

to Chris Dunkel who scored his first goal for OCC with less than a

minute wasted.

“Kevin [Smith] just told them to just pick up the pace,” said

Coach Laird Hayes. “He told them to attack, to take the game to them

and that we were the better team. Right away they responded. They are

a very coach-able team.”

Less than a minute after the Pirates’ first goal, OCC freshman Ian

Cone was fouled while heading to the goal after defeating three

defenders. Freshman Joel Walker, who in his final year at Newport

Harbor was named Sea View League MVP, scored the second goal,

expanding the gap to 2-0.

“This is a special bunch,” said Hayes. “They’re very talented and

they work very hard. We have high expectations.”

Added Walker: “We’re going to make a long run in conference. I’m

not worried at all.”