Womens water polo: Tired Pirates break out in second half for win

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - Coach Mike Giles added an extra workout for his Orange

Coast women’s water polo team before it hosted Saddleback, Wednesday. He

said he wanted his players to respond to that type of pressure. The

Pirates answered with a 12-3 victory, featuring a 10-goal outburst in the

second half.

However, the added workout’s effects showed in the first half as OCC

scored just two goals.

Devon Wright scored the team’s first goal after 6:32 of play. Neisha

Hoagland struck next with four minutes remaining in the second quarter.

But, Saddleback Christy Schori retaliated one minute later to get the

score at 2-1 for halftime.

“For me it was a little tiring,” Wright said of the team’s extra

workout. “But I think it got us warm.”

Normally, the Pirates have one morning workout before an afternoon

match. But Giles added another workout to test his players.Saddleback

Coach Mike Santo tired to take advantage of OCC. He used double coverage

on the Pirate’s attackers and OCC couldn’t find its rhythm.

Defensively they came out and they shut us down. They made us alter

our offense,” Santo said. “We did the same to them, but they adjusted a

lot quicker than we did.”

The Pirates outscored the Gauchos 6-0 in the third quarter as OCC

found the correct solution to Saddleback’s defensive gameplan. Once the

lead increased, Giles started to substitute players. He said he wanted

all of his players to get in and they did.

“Our starting lineup, the whole first quarter just couldn’t get hot,”

Giles said of Saddleback’s defense. “The best defense to a counterattack

is just scoring -- it’s that simple.”

The Gauchos defense included goalie Amanda Deatherage with 13 saves.

Sophomore goalie Erin Kennedy, a product of Newport High, finished with

six saves for Coast.

Nine different Pirates recorded goals, including Hoagland, Christine

McDonald and Wright, who each finished with two. Daylene Coberly,

Jennifer Hallman, Kathy Klarich, Heather Lemke, Tracy Maddox and Kristina

Miloslavic all had one goal for Coast.

McDonald said that the team woke up in the second half.

“We started to play as a team because we just realized that we were

better than that,” she said. “The extra workout tired us out. I think we

were a little tired. But then we got into it and we were motivated.”

The Pirates’ next games will be this weekend, when the Pirates play in

the Diablo Valley Tournament.