OCC women light up scoreboard
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Ranking No. 5 in goals among 90 California community college women’s soccer teams, Orange Coast College has been unlocking defenses with a high degree of success this season.
But despite scoring 41 times in 12 games, including 19 in the last four contests, Pirates Coach Kevin Smith said his team needs to find a way to be more productive against key Orange Empire Conference rivals.
The Pirates are 7-3-2, 4-2-1 in conference. The latter puts them in fourth place, trailing the big three of Santiago Canyon (10-0, 6-0), Saddleback (7-0-3, 4-0-2) and Cypress (7-1-3, 4-0-2).
OCC tied Cypress, 1-1, on the road on Sept. 30, but fell to Saddleback and Santiago Canyon by 2-0 scores on Sept. 16 and Sept. 20, respectively.
Smith said the creative playmaking of midfielders Jordan Moore, Lupe Rodriguez and Emily Malec has helped sophomore forward Sydnee Busby amass 14 goals this season, tied for third in the state.
Busby had four goals in Tuesday’s 6-2 win at Santa Ana and has scored at least once in four straight games. She had four goals in an 11-0 season-opening thumping of Cuyamaca and now has 24 goals in her OCC career.
Busby’s superior speed has helped her get behind defenses, Smith said, and strong service from the midfield has helped her create nightmares for opposing goalkeepers.
Moore, a sophomore, has seven goals and seven assists, while Rodriguez, a freshman, has three goals and one assist.
Malec, a sophomore who tore her ACL last season and missed some early games this year while coming back from reconstructive surgery, has three goals and one assist.
OCC will look to keep scoreboard operators busy in its final eight regular-season games. Most crucial on that schedule are dates with Saddleback (Oct. 18), Santiago Canyon (Oct. 21) and Cypress (Nov. 1).
OCC men start strong
The Orange Coast College men’s water polo team is off to a 10-2 start, 2-0 in the Orange Empire Conference.
Coach Adam Lee said the Pirates are benefiting from the strong leadership of sophomore tri-captains Kevin Dayan, Garrett Scott and Nathan Britton.
Dayan, who Lee said boasts a 4.0 grade-point average, tops the team with 27 goals and has added 10 assists and 19 steals.
Freshman Parker Evans (26 goals, eight assists and 17 steals), and sophomore Ariel Lee (23 goals, 18 assists and nine steals) are other noteworthy field players.
Lee said sophomore goalie Alex Furlong has been a standout as the anchor for the defense. Furlong is averaging 13.8 saves per game and has two games with 22 saves, one with 20 and two with 19.
“I think he’s the best goal in the state,” Lee said of Furlong, who has a team-best 36 steals.
The Pirates posted a crucial 8-7 conference home win over Riverside last week, a game in which Furlong had 22 saves.
OCC competes next in the Riverside tournament, Friday and Saturday. The Pirates’ next conference game is against perennial OEC champion Golden West (10-0, 2-0) on Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. in the Rustlers’ pool.
Rustlers remain unbeaten
The Golden West College men’s soccer team was unbeaten heading into Friday’s OEC road game with first-place Irvine Valley.
Coach Alex Gimenez’s Rustlers were 7-0-4, 3-0-2 in conference through Thursday. They are led by sophomore Anthony Saldana, who has six goals and four assists.
Irvine Valley (9-3, 4-1) and Fullerton (6-2-2, 4-2) have 12 points to top the conference standings (three points for a win and one for a tie), one point ahead of Golden West.
The Rustlers defeated Fullerton, 2-1, at home on Tuesday.
Position change paying off
The OCC football team appears to have found its tailback in former receiver A’Brae Booker-Curin. The 6-foot, 200-pounder out of Mission Viejo High has 197 yards on 24 carries the last two weeks (an 8.3-yard average) and is by far the most explosive and elusive ballcarrier the Pirates have used this season.
Booker-Curin had nine receptions for 111 yards in his first three games at receiver, and has caught six passes for 79 yards out of the backfield the last two weeks.
“He was playing receiver for us, but he just wasn’t getting it done at that position,” OCC Coach Kevin Emerson said. “But he’s a gazelle runner and we said ‘Let’s make the switch.’ We did and it’s paying off.”
Sharky on the attack
Also paying big dividends for the Pirates is the play of freshman cornerback Sharky Reza. A product of Edison High who greyshirted last season, Reza is tied for the Southern California lead with four interceptions (tied for No. 2 in the state). He also has 18 tackles and blocked two punts to set up touchdowns in a 46-14 nonconference road win at Santa Monica on Sept. 24.
OCC (2-3) has a bye this week, before opening conference play on Oct. 15 at Palomar. The Pirates are ranked No. 12 in Southern California, though Southern Conference rivals Saddleback and Fullerton are ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively. Saddleback is No. 2 in the state, while Fullerton is No. 4 in the state poll.
Grossmont, another Southern Conference team, is ranked No. 6 in Southern California.
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Barry Faulkner covers colleges.
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
