Women’s Soccer: Chargers leave OCC drained

Soccer coaches frequently implore their teams to maintain their shape. Every once in a while, however, the sport renders a result beyond proportion to the events of one contest.

A beautiful game? Don’t try to sell that notion to Orange Coast College women’s coach Kevin Smith, for whom the glass may have easily been as full as the stat sheet was in favor of the Pirates, though the net remained so maddeningly empty.

“It’s a shame because we were clearly the better team,” Smith said after visiting Cypress escaped with a 1-0 victory Tuesday in the showdown for second place in the Orange Empire Conference. “But we’re walking away with nothing.”

Nothing was virtually what the Chargers (12-1-5, 9-0-4 in conference) mounted in the opening half, during which the Pirates (11-4-3, 8-4-2) posted a 17-1 advantage in shots.

OCC finished with a 23-6 surplus in that department and held a 23-3 bulge before Cypress finished its singularly serious scoring chance in the 77th minute.

Freshman Marissa Gulley sent a cross in front that freshman Kristen Nolan headed into the same cage at which the Pirates peppered two shots off the crossbar in the opening 11 minutes.

“I wouldn’t say we played the best today, that’s for sure,” said Cypress Assistant Coach Randi Martinez, who basically runs the show for head man Erick Hurtarte. “But in a 1-0 win, sometimes that’s the way it goes.

“It was a good goal; well-deserved,” Martinez said. “But we were a little spotty in our possession, which is something we do well. We just couldn’t seem to get in a groove or a rhythm. Give credit to [the Pirates]. They work hard.”

Working hard and working together are two themes Smith cited when delivering postgame praise to his players.

“We were moving well off the ball and connecting our passes,” Smith said. “We had lots of great opportunities, buy you have to finish your chances. We hit the crossbar twice. That game was ripe for a scrappy goal. We were playing such good soccer, really, but we wanted to score the perfect goal, and it looked like were going to score the perfect goal.”

Freshman Lupe Rodriguez was barely imperfect in the 10th minute, when she headed a cross in front from sophomore defender Samantha Lombardo that caromed off the crossbar and back onto the field.

Not a minute later, sophomore forward Sydnee Busby, whose 19 goals top the conference, rank No. 7 in the state and No. 3 in Southern California, kissed a shot off the crossbar from near the top of the 18-yard box.

Late in the first half, sophomore midfielder Emily Malec had a point-blank shot veer wide, and a handful of other chances, and misses, prompted groans from the OCC bench.

“I’m disappointed in the result, but there is some consolation that we played them off the field,” said Smith, whose team leads the conference with 57 goals, four better than the Chargers.

It was only the third time this season that OCC failed to score.

Cypress, which extended its unbeaten streak to 13 games, has yet to be blanked this season.

“If we would have won this game, we would have moved into second place,” said Smith, whose team instead fell into fourth place behind Saddleback, which defeated Norco, 1-0, on Tuesday.

Just two conference games remain for OCC, which suffered only its second loss in the last 11 games.

“We can’t do what we want to do, and that’s get into the playoffs and do well in the playoffs, if we can’t close out teams,” Smith said. “But if we play soccer like that, we’ll be fine against anybody in the state.”